Space Trippers Book 1: Trippin' (7 page)

"If we are still talking about Virrilians, I can see why their planet is doing so well. They are depleting other planets instead. Isn't that what this whole war is about?"

"Uninhabited planets. Virrilians mine uninhabited planets, unlike you Earthians who destroy people's worlds and solar systems just to make yourselves more money and suck up more resources. If you had taken care of your planet to begin with you wouldn't have to be destroying everyone else's.

And as I recall the whole war started over you humans trying to strip mine a planet in our sector and enslave its inhabitants. Virrilians had been trading with that mining planet for generations without the destruction you people were planning! Is it no wonder they wouldn't let you get away with it?"

"Uh, oh." Tim grimaced; taking note for the first time of the four sharp fangs that showed in her scowl and the inch long points that had grown on her hands over the past three days. "You are Virrilian, aren't you?" he almost hated to ask.

"Whatever gave you that impression?" she returned sarcastically as she touched the tip of an upper fang with her tongue. "I am Virrilian, but I went to the Intergalactic University in your sector. Where did you go to school? Perhaps if you had listened more and flirted less, you would have learned about other people instead of just yourself." she taunted.

"I went to school in New New York. I didn't really attend the University though; I dropped out and was recruited by the I.P.F." Lieutenant Baine replied, hoping she didn't get the wrong impression.

She did.

"Ohhh, N.N.Y, huh? Excuse me, poor little rich boy! I didn't know you were a Yorkie." Valesque scoffed. She had been to New New York a few times. It was a large city built above the ruins of what had been Old New York.

The new city was very upscale, shiny and elite. Encased in a dome with its own oxygen environment, the only way in or out was by way of ramps that ran down each side, past the hoverport and into the remains of the old city. The entire planet had become this way; the larger more affluent cities were rebuilt on hovering platforms and encased in environmental bubbles with the older ruins lying underneath. Only the rich and affluent citizens could live in the new cities, the rest of the declining population had to live on the planet's surface, ravaged by radiation, heat and desolation.

The lucky ones could find work as maintenance personnel for the new city and therefore enjoy the ruins of the old cities, shaded from the sun by the new cities above them. The less fortunate vied for jobs in the energy farms.

Which were large fields of solar panels placed out in the barren wilderness beyond the glistening city's shadow. These farms supplied the power needed to run the huge new metropolises. The remaining class was left to the wastelands, the sun and wind ravaged areas beyond the solar farms.

All in all the Earth was no longer a wonderful place to live and not even a safe one to visit, unless you enjoyed radiation burns.

“I wouldn't exactly say I was a 'Yorkie'." Tim defended, but sure she wouldn't listen, she already had her back up about being Virrilian. "Maybe we should get off this subject, Beautiful." he advised, a little upset.

Tim had been raised the only child of two elderly solar farmers in Old New York. He was shown interest by a friend of his parents, General Gorbok, who had him sent to a posh NNY school. But, of course the kids in NNY looked down on him and his solar farming parents and would not include him in their groups.

He ended up developing a rebellious, devil-may-care attitude and drove a souped up hoverbike he had rebuilt from a ruin in ONY.

His dangerous reputation with fast machines and his carefree attitude towards authority made him a popular attraction to the girls but even more of a nuisance to the other guys. Now that he was out of there he always hated when people started talking about his past.

Because one way or the other they always ended up prejudice, either because of his posh schooling background or because of his solar farming family life.

"Fine by me." Valesque shrugged a bit embarrassed by his flustered look. She had lost her temper again and she was not too happy about it.

“How about we start over?" Tim said, suddenly friendly again and determined to get on her good side, "I am Timothy Baine, Pilot and Earthian."

Valesque smiled smugly. "And I am the Virrilian idiot who designed this ship."

Now it was the Lieutenant’s turn to be embarrassed. “Oh, did I say that?” he fumbled, his calm, cool charm eluding him. “I meant to say, `who ever could have been the brilliant, beautiful genius behind those flight controls. They are just pure heaven!'” he gave her a brilliant, semi-sheepish smile. “I’m not getting out of it am I?”

Valesque gave him a bold, unaffected look. “The flight panels are perfect, if you know how to use them. Don’t worry about it, Yorkie.” she assured him as she casually handed the young dumbfounded Ensign the key card she had made.

“Oh, thank you, most benevolent, most irresistibly desirous among women!” Tim exclaimed, about to grab her hands and acting like he would fall to his knees.

“Oh, cut it out.” Valesque retorted, sure he was teasing her, and hating to be played with.

“Welcome to my quarters, Lieutenant!” Sanic exclaimed happily, as the key-card signaled the door to open.

Lieutenant Baine turned from Valesque and peered into the room. “Wow, you’re quite a messy little camper aren’t you?” he exclaimed upon viewing the interior.

Sanic, baffled by his remark, moved beside him to view the room himself. “What the? Am I missing something here?”

“Not that I can see.” Tim returned playfully, “There is a bed, over there against that wall, under what I suppose is the carpet, and over there I can sort of make out a pile of what I assume are counter tops and drawers? Looks like just about everything to me.”

Valesque peered over Sanic’s shoulder trying to ascertain the condition of the room.

Tim put an arm around her and led her to a better viewing area, directly in front of him.

He pretended to ignore her attempts to push away from his embrace as he stood there quite casually, with his arm about her waist, surveying the wreckage.

Valesque had seen flirts before but this one took the cake.

“I tried to tell you, this room isn’t finished yet.” Valesque explained, accidentally slicing the Lieutenant's hand with her three-day nail growth as she tried to pry herself free of his hold. “We have only completed Delta Decks one through two and half of deck three."

"Yeow!" Tim yelped, sucking on his injured hand, sure she had hit a major artery with her claws. She did not play nice.

“Well,” Sanic murmured, trying to look at the bright side, “at least I have my own room.”

"Actually, I was surprised they even assigned you here at all, since Delta Decks are for Scientist housing. Crew housing is several decks above us on Beta Decks one through three. I guess whoever assigned the quarters did not have a ship layout map to work from." she informed him reluctantly.

Tim looked down at Valesque as she looked over at Sanic in concern.

“Aw, come on, now. Look, Sanic, you can stay with me in my quarters until we can get this place straightened up. I have a big place, with running water and working lights, it would be no problem. It could fit two nicely.” he added almost suggestively, as he met Valesque’s gaze.

The Engineer gave him a sour look before turning to see what state of completeness everything was really in.

“That’s nice of you, Lieutenant.” Sanic replied. “But you know as well as I do that there are Military rules about upper and lower crew members socializing together. And Fairbanks isn’t the sort of Captain that would let something like that slide by. No, I had better just stay here, it won’t be that bad. And there are always the showers by the gel-pool on the Rec. Deck.”

“Speaking of the Rec. Deck.” Tim interrupted, “I was just coming down here to see if you wanted to join me in a Holo-room. You too, Beautiful.” he added to Valesque.

“Actually we were just about to go down to the Med-room.” Sanic told him, “But maybe we could all go down there and then come back up to the Holo-rooms?” he suggested, looking over at Valesque for her approval.

Valesque meanwhile had gone over to the in-room computer interface and was messing with a few wires, checking the connection, when a sudden jolt hit her and the terminal activated for a fraction of a second. Valesque dropped the power cable she was holding and turned slowly towards the very alarmed men as they came rushing towards her.

“I think I still have a bit of a charge left.” she muttered groggily.

Tim looked over at Sanic in utter amazement. “The Med-room it is. Besides, I think I need to get this cauterized." he continued pitifully as he examined the slash in his right hand.

"Perhaps you should learn to keep your hands to yourself." Valesque remarked, feeling no pity as Sanic tried to figure out how the Lieutenant had gotten such a nasty cut in his room.

The Lieutenant was in fact bleeding quite steadily from the gash she had made. The cuff of his long sleeved flight suit beginning to get soaked through, as he tried to keep the blood from dripping on the new flooring.

Valesque did not have anything to give him as a temporary bandage, besides she didn't want him thinking she was the least bit concerned. After all, that is what you get for messing with a Virrilian, and this was exactly the reason she kept her nails filed.

Well, that and she did not want everyone knowing she was Virrilian right off. With the war going on Virrilian was not the safest thing to be, and especially a Virrilian named Valesque Rhaugh.

Captain Fairbanks paced her Observation Room restlessly. Nothing was going as smoothly as she had hoped. Her 'Ace Pilot' could barely manage his controls, the Ensign assigned the Operations Command post seemed to have nothing to do. Half the flight control crew seemed to have no idea what they were there for. The ship had so far taken three days just to clear the Milky Way. If it kept up this pace the war would be over before they got there.

She had ordered her engineering team to fix the problems but they just kept saying how everything was 'unfinished' or they did not understand the design.

She knew the General would never have sent her out in an unfit ship; it had to be that darned Virrilian.

After all, she had sworn she would sabotage their mission. The Captain had tried the shipboard locators but had not picked up the Virrilian Ensign's communication signal anywhere; perhaps she had made it off the ship after all, after disabling all their defenses and crippling the engines.

"Arrgh." Captain Fairbanks moaned in frustration as she slammed her fist into the wall. A small metallic clink followed this action and she turned quickly towards the sound to see a small, thin, rectangular object on the floor under the ship's name display. She walked over to it and reached down to pick it up.

It read 'I.P.A Vortex', the back of the name plaque was slightly sticky against her fingers. She looked at the place where it had been and narrowed her eyes.

The Captain peered at the sign, her lips pressing together into a tight, thin line as she positioned the fallen plaque over the sticky residue on the wall and pressed it into place, covering back over the lettering underneath it.

"Computer, locate any Virrilian life signs on board and notify Second Officer Fazar I wish to see him in my Observation Room." she called out, after a moment’s consideration.

This was not going well at all.

When Valesque and the others entered the Med-room, it was empty. The beds and medical equipment were all there but no patients or medical staff could be seen anywhere.

"Is this room ever staffed by anyone?" Tim asked after looking around the now familiar emptiness. "I have been up here several times recently looking for....uh, someone, and I have never found anyone in here." he remarked, trying to avoid admitting he had been searching for the beautiful Virrilian, thinking it might make him look desperate.

Valesque looked a bit puzzled as she pushed the medical call button just inside the Med-room doorway, "Lola? Are you in here? Lola?" she called, gazing around the room, looking for signs of life.

"Lola?" Tim repeated to himself, eyebrows raised in interest, with an expression that reminded Valesque of a cat eager to pounce.

Valesque rolled her eyes at his obvious anxiousness to meet any new female and walked further into the room. She was sure Lola was here; she never left the ship and seldom ever left the Med-room.

A door on the far-right side of the room slid open and revealed a young woman clinging to the doorframe as if she was about to fall over.

The two men were not far enough into the room to get a look at her, all they could see from their angle was a small hand on the doorway and a glimpse of her pale blue uniform.

Valesque who was further into the Med-room could see her clearly.

"Lola!" she exclaimed on seeing her. "What's wrong? You don't look very good."

"I don't feel very good." the girl replied in a cute sounding voice but with a strange grimace on her face. "I have been feeling a little dizzy, it is worse when I stand up, so I have been lying down. I keep feeling like I am going to fall." she said worrisomely as she moved slightly to tighten her hold on the doorframe.