Fiction Fragment Friday
I did not expect to come back to the crew of the Oddity quite so quickly, but I enjoyed last week so much I felt compelled. In the past I have written other stories about jumps gone wrong so it might be a setup I overuse. In this case though it fit the story I wanted to tell. It also let me continue to build the setting around these characters and further expand on who they are.
My first jump into a system as Captain of the starship Odyssey went much worse than I expected, but not quite as bad as I feared. The transition itself went smoothly, but the moment we returned to normal space systems started to fail. First the overhead lights flickered off triggering the dim emergency lights to take their place. The display screens that lined my chair dimmed to conserve power. The most obvious sign that we had a problem though was the fact that I was slowly floating up from my chair in the lack of gravity.
Unsure the internal communication system’s state I grabbed my tablet and opened a direct call to my Chief of Engineering Victor Lumsdon. “Chief status report.” I wanted to ask what the hell was going on with my ship but decided to keep it a bit more professional until the crew got to know me a bit better. Also, there is nothing more disconcerting than seeing your Captain panic so keeping a calm cool voice was a necessity.
“Power core is offline cap. We’re running off the casket for life support and basic systems. Gravity comes from the engines, and they went down hard without power.”
“Casket?”
There was a nervous chuckle from the other end of the line. “Sorry sir. That’s what I call the backup power buffer system. You don’t open it up unless everything else is dead. Think of it like a great big battery that we’re draining faster than we should be.”
“Eta on getting the core back online?”
“Best estimate. Just in time so we don’t all die or too late to matter. If someone can figure out what’s draining us so fast, it’ll help us avoid that second option.”
“Understood. Moss out.” I made a mental note to have a long conversation with my chief of engineering provided we survived the emergency. His tone was not only disrespectful but would have a serious hit on morale for anyone who heard the conversation. I looked around my bridge to see just how badly my crew had taken the news. To my surprise they didn’t seem fazed at all and unlike me they had all been buckled into their seats. “Miss Southerland I can’t help but notice that you are neither floating nor panicking. Am I correct to assume this has happened before?”
She turned back to face me and upon seeing that I was flailing a bit trying to grab my seat, a grin came to her face. Her answer though came in a formal tone. “No captain this is not the first time we’ve lost power on a jump.”
“How often does this happen?”
“Once every six months or so. Did no one show you restraints Chief Lumsdon installed on our chairs?” Her look was so smug I had to wonder if it bordered on insubordination. No if there was one thing I had learned about Royce Southerland it was that she knew and could abuse regulations better than anyone else I had met in my career. It was a skill I fully intended to utilize to the ship’s advantage. If we survived.
“No, I can’t say as any of you did. I’m sure it just slipped your minds.” I managed to pull myself back into my chair and after a few moments fiddling with the hidden restraints got myself strapped down. I turned to my head systems engineer. “Mr. Tunica do we have any way in the computer system to tell how our limited power is being used?”
“Please sir call me Pablo.” He did not look up from his station. Instead, he tapped away at his screen. “I just so happen to have a report already built out for that.”
“Because this isn’t the first time this has happened?”
He just nodded. “Ah here we go. Looks like the drain this time is coming from the galley.”
I hit the button on my console to connect to Utility Specialist Paul Dillon. The ship didn’t have a large enough crew to warrant a full-time chef so instead we had three crew members that floated around being assigned duties needed. Underway that might be mess attendant, in port it might be cargo, or on any given day they could relieve watch standers for breaks. The crew had taken to calling them spare parts. “Mr. Dillon. Could you kindly let me know everything down there that is still using power?”
“Oh, sure Captain. There’s the freezer, the fridge, the coffee urn, the oven, and the karaoke machine.” His final item explained the music I could faintly hear in the background.
“The karaoke… you know what never mind that. What’s in the oven? I saw the lunch plan today and its sandwiches.” It was almost always sandwiches for lunch. Sometimes a bland soup or stale chips to go with them. It had only been a week, and I was already sick of the food onboard.
“Oh, I’ve got a batch of cookies going. They just sounded good, so I put them on before the jump.”
I sighed to compose myself. “Please turn off the oven, the coffee urn, and the karaoke machine.”
“Are you sure sir? It will ruin the cookies.”
“YES, I’M SURE!” I immediately internally chastised myself for yelling. It was unbecoming of an officer. “Mr. Dillon do you by chance remember what you were doing the last time the ship jumped and lost power after?”
“Uhm, yes sir. I was baking a cake. I was just saying what a funny coincidence it was that every time I try to bake something for a jump, we seem to lose power. That’s why I ran power through the capacitors though. So, we wouldn’t have another ruined dessert if it happened again.”
I heard Mr. Dillon moving around on the other end of the line and after a few moments he replied. “There ya go captain. All shut off.”
I glanced at Pablo who was giving me a thumbs up. “Thank you, Mr. Dillion. In the future, please refrain from baking until after the jump is complete. I would hate for you to have another dessert ruined.”
“Sure, thing captain. Anything else I can do for you?”
“Not at the moment. Moss out.”
I felt the pull of gravity deep in my stomach as the lights started to come back on around the bridge. There was a flashing light on my tablet, and I hit it to start the call. “Chief Lumsdon I see we have power, and I assume the engines are back online since we have gravity. Good work.”
“Yes sir. I’m sorry to say I don’t have root cause yet though. Seems like something was pulling on the power systems right before jump. Strong enough pull that when we jumped it pushed us over the limit and blew out some safety breakers. Same thing every time this happens.”
“I believe I may have found your culprit. Seems that Mr. Dillon likes to have baked goods after a jump, but every time he tries, we seem to have the bad luck of losing power.” I tried to make my voice sound amused instead of annoyed, but I probably failed in that effort.
“Oh, for the love of.. That’s where the power drain was coming from?”
“Yes, Chief Lumsdon it appears we cannot run the oven and bend space at the same time.” I did not mention that the ship was suddenly reminding me of a run-down apartment I had back in college.
“Well, that’s good to know. See there sir you haven’t been Captain of the Oddity for but a week and you’re already improving things. I guess we’re lucky to have you. Lumsdon out.”
I made another mental note on my list of things to talk to Lumsdon about. Protocol is for the highest-ranking officer to end all communications.
“Uhm Captain?”
“Yes Pablo.”
“Do you mind if I run down to the galley?”
“Wanting to check on Mr. Dillon?”
“No sir. I just really love half baked cookies and want to get one before he throws them out or tries to finish baking them.“
I mentally counted to five before responding. “Yes, you may go.”
After he left, I noticed Miss Southerland staring at me. “Something I can help you with Miss Southerland?”
“No sir. I was just remembering how you said most of our time out here would be boring if we were lucky and terrifying if we weren’t. The past ten minutes or so make me think that this is going to be an interesting journey.”
“I’m afraid you might be right Miss Southerland.”