AGU SCI 1: The Star Brotherhood (12 page)

A check of the other containers revealed no stowaways waiting to leap out and begin a forcible takeover of the ship after the crew had relaxed their security, so they began an exhaustive examination of the container construction.

"We have an outer skin of tritanium," Brenda said, "bonded to a point-five centimeter lining of lead, followed by a low power electronic grid that will scramble any electronic scans that get through the outer materials. Then we have a two-centimeter-thick layer of stainless steel with normal reinforcing construction and an interior two-centimeter layer of stainless. Overall, it's well constructed and well protected from snooping."

"Any signs of recent work?" Vyx asked.

"Recent work?" Brenda echoed.

"Yeah. Such as by the freighter people. Did they put anything into the walls that we'll be smuggling back to Bleadalto?"

"No evidence that I saw. Did you notice anything Kathryn?"

"Nope. I didn't see anything that suggests recent tampering with the interior or exterior walls."

"Okay. Thanks everyone. That puts my mind at ease."

"So what were we carrying? Why did they transfer it to other containers?" Byers asked.

"I don't know. They were pretty secretive. Let's go review the vid records and see if we can spot anything."

An hour later the team had cleaned up and were meeting in the lounge to watch the images recorded from the
Scorpion's
exterior-mounted cameras.

Most of the cameras only recorded images of empty space, so they weren't reviewed. The images that showed how the containers were handled once the small robotic tug delivered them to the freighter were enlarged to maximum magnification and played at slower-than-normal speed.

"Look at that," Byers said after the first of the recently delivered containers was opened. "It's a container within a container."

The freighter crewmembers had opened one end of the container and were pulling another smaller container out. After the smaller container was out, the larger container was closed and pushed out of the way. Then the side doors of a full twenty-meter-high container already part of the freighter's load was opened.

"There's the reason," Vyx said. "The full-size container has a false bottom. It's really only a three-quarters container in a full-size shell."

"Why?" Kathryn asked.

"Look, they're sliding the small container into the bottom of the full-size container," Nelligen said.

"Clever," Vyx said. "They put the small container we delivered under a three-quarters load of ore. If Space Command stops the ship, the densitometer reading for that container will undoubtedly appear normal for a full-size container of ore."

"Very clever," Brenda said. "Inspectors rarely climb down into a container full of ore. If none of the readings are suspicious, they just pass the container and go on to the next."

"Okay, mystery solved," Vyx said. "I'll send a message to SCI at Quesann and identify the freighter and the containers. It'll be up to them to have a Space Command ship engaged in interdiction activities stop the ship and find a justifiable reason for a full search of one of the involved containers that doesn't point back to us as a possible informer. Once they find one illegal cargo, they can impound the ship, drag it back to Quesann, and check every container under a magnifying glass. Chances are there are other illegal cargoes aboard."

Over the following week, the team began falling into their usual daily routines. It was on the sixth day after departing the area near the freighter that the ship was suddenly rocked and alarms began sounding all over the ship. Everyone headed for the bridge at double time.

"The ACS again?" Nelligen asked as he plopped into the right seat and began scanning space with the DeTect system.

"Not this time," Vyx said, "I felt an explosion and the alarm is indicating that the FTL drive is down."

"An attack?" Byers asked as he opened the larboard weapons-control panel.

"If it was an attack," Vyx said, "we should have received a DeTect alert."

Brenda, who had already opened the starboard side panel, said, "I don't see anyone out there."

"Neither do I," Nelligen said. "The DeTect screen is clear. Nobody within four billion kilometers."

"Then who attacked us?" Kathryn shouted over the sound of the alarms.

Vyx flicked a switch and the bridge was suddenly as quiet as a tomb. "All I know is there was an explosion and the FTL drive is down. We're not moving at all."

"Let's activate the sub-light engines," Byers said. "We can't just sit out here in the open if there's another attack."

"No. We can't move until we know what happened."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't know why the FTL is down. The safest course is to spend a few minutes investigating since the DeTect shows there's no one in the neighborhood. Kathryn, you're at the vid panel. Display an image of the FTL drive from the camera mounted just behind the drive unit repository."

"Coming up," Kathryn said. A second later an image from that camera appeared on the forward bridge monitor.

"Where's the FTL drive unit?" Nelligen asked.

"It's not there," Vyx replied. "The post is there, but most of the drive unit is gone."

"How can it not be there if we weren't attacked?" Byers said.

"Good question, Albert," Vyx said. "Let's find out. The last time that camera was activated was six days ago when we were at the rendezvous location. Kathryn, play back that last vid file. Start from the end and run it backwards."

"Coming up. Okay, here it is."

A image of the FTL drive, still intact, appeared on the monitor."

"What's that thing sitting on top of the drive unit?" Nelligen asked.

"I don't know," Vyx said, "but it doesn't belong there."

As they watched, the object flew off the drive unit.

"Where'd it go?" Byers asked.

"The question is— where'd it come from?" Nelligen said. "We're playing the file backwards."

"Kathryn, play the file forward from this point," Vyx said. "Six frames per second instead of thirty."

As the file began playing, they saw the object zoom in and land on the FTL drive unit mere seconds before the ship began building it's envelope to go to FTL. That's where the file ended.

The
Scorpion's
FTL drive, as on warships, resided in a repository in the sail when not in use. When needed, the repository cover was retracted and the drive was extended out.

"So it came from the freighter?" Brenda asked.

"It appears that way. There wasn't anyone else around."

"But how did that thing approach the ship without setting off alarms?" Byers asked.

"It must have flown alongside a robotic tug bringing the empty containers," Nelligen said. "The system was set to ignore their approach."

"Or perhaps it was even attached to the robotic tug temporarily," Kathryn said.

"Kathryn, activate the rest of the cameras, one by one," Vyx said. "Let's see if we can spot any more of those things on the ship."

Over the next hour, they used the exterior cameras to scan the hull. It wasn't as definitive a search as actually being outside, but it was close. They identified two more drones. There was one on each sub-light engine nacelle."

"That's why we can't activate the sub-light engines, Albert," Vyx said. "Those devices might be set to detonate as soon as we do."

"So what do we do now?" Byers asked. "We can't just sit here like a target."

"No, we can't," Vyx agreed. Looking at Nelligen, he said, "Up for a little bomb disposal work?"

"It's not something I'd go out of my way to find, but I don't see where we have a choice."

"I'll take the larboard unit. You take the starboard side. One of us will perform a step, and then the other will follow. If the one following hears a loud noise, he'll know not to duplicate that particular move."

Nelligen chuckled. "The only thing left to decide then— is who leads and who follows."

"We can switch after every step, or when one of us of feels more confident to take the lead. The important thing is to maintain constant contact. We don't have any time to kill, er— waste— so let's go suit up."

Twenty minutes later, wearing EVA suits with a tool kit strapped to their right thigh, both men entered an airlock on the side of the ship where they would work at defusing an explosive charge. As the airlocks cycled, they stepped outside.

"Communications check," Vyx said.

"Confirmed," Nelligen said.

"Okay, let's move to our nacelle."

Ten minutes later, Nelligen said, "Vyx, have you reached your drone?"

"Yeah, I just got here. I'm looking it over."

"Ditto. The thing looks more like a two-meter spaceship than a torpedo."

"I agree. Perhaps that makes it easier for an operator to fly it to the target. Any suggestions for dismantling it?"

"There appears to be a substance oozing out at the base."

"I see that," Vyx said.

"Must be an adhesive of some sort."

"Yeah. It flies to its destination by remote control, then attaches itself to the target with that adhesive."

As Nelligen tried to push a screwdriver tip gently into the substance, he said, "It feels rock hard. I guess it's a quick-drying vacuum cement."

"That's going to make things more difficult."

"Yeah, there might be a detonation trigger in the cement. We'll have to defuse it instead of simply removing it."

"I'll make the first move," Vyx said. "I don't see any part that can be disassembled except the nose cone. The back end seems to be milled from one solid piece."

"I agree."

"I'm going to see if I can unscrew the nose cone in a clockwise direction." A second later, he said, "It's turning."

"Good first step."

"Okay, it's off. There are six wires attached from the nose cone to an assembly module in the missile."

"Let me catch up to you," Nelligen said. "Unscrewing the nose cone." Ten seconds later, he said, "Okay, I have my nose cone off. I see the wires. I think they're used for vid composition. They're the eyes to fly this thing. Give me a minute to look at the wiring." After a minute, Nelligen said, "This doesn't appear to be very complicated. The guidance assembly is probably much more complicated than the explosive component. Do you see the green wire with the white circular stripes every couple of centimeters? It's the only wire with those circular stripes."

"Yeah, I see it," Vyx said.

"I think if we cut that, the explosive charge can't detonate."

"You
think
?"

"Well, yeah. It seems logical, unless the bomb maker did something unusual. Like I said, the bomb component doesn't look that sophisticated."

"Is that your best assessment?"

"That's all I have."

"Okay, Nels. I'll cut the green wire with the white cross stripes."

"No, I'll do it. It's my idea."

"It's my job. If it's wrong, you'll still have to find a way to defuse your bomb. The ship can still maneuver with just one of the side-mounted engines. Just make sure that if this doesn't work you make a better guess the next time."

"Roger, Vyx. Good luck."

Vyx stretched out the arm holding the wire cutter. He put the blades around the wire and began to close them, then stopped.

Nelligen waited impatiently to hear from Vyx. In the vacuum of space, he wouldn't hear the sound of an explosion if he had guessed wrong about the wiring. Because of his location, he also wouldn't be able to see the flash if the bomb detonated. The only way he would know something was wrong was if Vyx reported the problem, or if the HUD reported that contact with Vyx's suit communication had been lost. He continued to stare at the HUD for what seemed like minutes, but was in actuality only about twenty seconds as Vyx prepared himself to cut the wire.

Vyx finally took a deep breath, released it, then cut the wire. Nothing happened, but that was good. He didn't want anything to happen. He smiled and breathed deeply again. "Okay, Nels. I'm still here. I'm going to use my laser pistol to see if I can slice though the base where the adhesive is located."

"I'll listen for the boom."

"Seriously?"

"No. I think you've disarmed it. Even if there is a tamper switch in the base, the charge shouldn't detonate. Besides, I wouldn't hear the boom anyway."

"Remind me never to disarm explosives with you again. Okay. Cutting." Fifteen seconds later, Vyx said, "It's detached. I'm going to fling it away from the ship and destroy it."

Vyx pushed the device away from him and it floated away. When it reached a point approximately a hundred meters away, he fired his laser pistol. He didn't hit the explosive material with the first shot but got it with the second. The explosion was considerably more than he was expecting. While there was no concussive force in space, the intensity of the light, even though it only lasted for a second, was a good indicator of the explosive force.

"You okay, Vyx?" Nelligen asked.

"Better than okay. Finish up over there so we can search the hull to make sure there aren't any more of these things."

Half a minute later, Vyx heard Nelligen curse.

"What is it, Nels?" Vyx asked, concern evident in his voice.

"I can't hit the damn thing. I've missed six times."

Vyx chuckled. "Keep trying. It's good target practice. Now that you've removed your bomb, I'm going to start searching the larboard side of the ship to make sure there are no more of those things anywhere on the hull."

An hour later, Vyx and Nelligen were removing their EVA suits with the help of the other team members. It was good to be back inside the ship and out of the bulky suits. No additional explosive devices had been discovered.

"Okay, time to get away from here before whoever placed those things on our hull— or their friends— arrive."

"Without an FTL drive unit," Byers said, "it'll take us a million light-years to get to Bleadalto."

"We have a spare FTL drive unit in the maintenance parts hold, but replacing it could be a long process, and this isn't the place to do it. Whoever put those things on the
Scorpion
will know approximately how far we could have traveled at Light-300 before we lost FTL. If they rightly assume we'd head directly back to Bleadalto, they'll know roughly where we
should
have lost our FTL envelope. They're probably out searching for us now, and the only reason they aren't here already is that we were traveling far faster than Light-300. I had upped the speed to Light-487 once we were beyond DeTect range of the freighter. Still, we don't want to be anywhere close to a direct course back to Bleadalto for any longer than necessary. The people who did this might assume the explosive didn't detonate when it was supposed to, and they'll be searching the entire route back to Bleadalto."