The Pathfinder Project (35 page)

“That’s another thing that has
been bugging me,” Thomas said, raising his right index finger for emphasis. Swiftly,
he punched up a number on his Comm-link and waited until he heard the Captain’s
voice.

“Great
job down there, guys
and gals. You saved the ship
!
”

“Thanks, Captain,” said Glen.
“You should have seen Thomas roar in here right in the middle of everything. He
showed up barking orders and never let up until we were safe.”

“Captain, about that PTP thing
you just mentioned,” Thomas said enthusiastically. “I don’t think the enemy
can
track us through transit… Adam is incorrect on that one particular detail.” He
paused for a moment and laughed when he heard his brother’s astonished voice.

“
I am
?
They can’t
?”

“No, they can’t,” Thomas said
confidently. “Right before I came down here I was monitoring all of the
communications channels, including the telemetry from Dashboard’s shuttle
patrol.” He flashed Glen a quick smile. “Since everything hit the fan as soon
as they returned from their scouting patrol, it sure seemed that the enemy could
track us at the time. I know your command team hasn’t had a chance to talk to
the pilots yet or analyze the recorded telemetry since you were all so busy
defending the ship.”

“
Okay… you’ve got me
curious. How
did
they find us
?” Kaufield asked. “
I hope you’re
not suggesting that they just showed up at such an opportune time by random chance
?
”

“No they didn’t,” Thomas
agreed. “But I think Dashboard will be the first to tell you that there’s a
hidden
passive
communications station on that blasted out planet we were
sitting next to. It detected our presence, waited until the planet orbited away
from us and then sent a quick data burst with our coordinates through a tiny
PTP window. So we know they do have that tactical capability, at least – even
if their weapons and guidance systems basically suck.”

“
We’re very fortunate that
their guidance systems ‘suck’ and that we got away
,” decided Kaufield. “
I
also think we proved our theory that there’s an all-out war going on in that
region, and can definitely log the location into the computer catalogue as very
dangerous and off-limits for future visits
.”

“I would appreciate it if you
would,” Glen decided, wiping more sweat from his forehead. His comment started
Thomas and the other members of the Laboratory staff laughing, cheering and
applauding all over again. He waited until the noise died down and then
cautiously asked “How much damage did we take?”

“
Very little
,” Dennis
reported. “
As I said we were extremely lucky
.
Jeff reported in to let
us know a few stray shots hit the Garden and Livestock wings but they didn’t
penetrate the inner shielding. As soon as we verify this spot as quiet, Mad Dog
will have a crew out on EVA duty to patch up the holes
.”

“Well, we’ve got
five
magnetic grapplers hanging on our side of the ship with their severed cables
dangling,” Glen commented. “I’d really appreciate it if you’d have the EVA crew
remove those for us, too!”

“
I’ll have them add that to
their list
,” Kaufield said. “
I have one last question for Thomas. Your
brother up here is confident that the ‘universe diagram’ transmission we
received was
not
sent to us by any of the factions in that war zone we
just left. Would you agree with that
?”

“Absolutely I agree with him,”
decided Thomas. “The ship that came after us was a dreadnought in the finest
tradition of our original naval sailing vessels. I would speculate that their
typical strategy is to board their target like they tried to do with us. If
they can’t their next effort is to pull alongside their enemy and open fire
with all weapons at point blank range in the same manner that our old ships
did. If guns fail, their last resort is to try and ram. The winner in that type
of all-out cannon battle is the one that doesn’t sink.”

“
I wouldn’t exactly define
that as winning
,” the Captain replied. “
But it is nice to know that the
mystery transmission was sent to us by somebody else – hopefully a very
friendly
somebody else. Julie also agrees that the war zone combatants are a definite no.
So you can expect that we will call for another Council meeting soon and decide
where we’re going to travel to next. For now, I think we should let the deck
four passengers return to their quarters and give everyone on board a chance to
catch their breath
.”

“That sounds fine with us,”
said Thomas, shutting off the Comm-link. He was totally caught by surprise as
Glen got to his feet and hugged him gratefully. “Thanks for your help kid. It’s
great to have you back.”

“Oh I’m not back on a permanent
basis. I still have to drop by the Observatory now and then,” Thomas said,
grinning. “They have a really cute brunette girl over there, and I think she
really likes me. That kind of unexpected surprise never happened around
here
,
you know.”

Glen laughed out loud and
lightly whacked Thomas on the shoulder with the back of his hand. Both of the
marines standing next to the hatchway removed their helmets and came over to
shake Thomas’ hand. “I’ve never seen anybody run as fast as you did kid,” one
of them said. “I’m Private Michaels and it’s great to know you.”

“Where did you learn to run
like that?” asked Jacobs, his partner.

“In school, where do you
think?” Thomas said. “Kids like me
have
to be fast or they get beat up
by really big guys like you.” Jacobs grinned and rubbed Thomas’ head, severely
ruffling his hair. Everybody continued laughing as their emotional pressure
lessened even more.

Glen decided that it felt
really great to be safe again.

THE PATHFINDER PROJECT

Dr. Karen Simmons smiled
enthusiastically at her two patients. On one side of the room sat Patrick
Warren, their captured Brotherhood spy. Warren tentatively held a piece of
white sterile gauze to his nose to verify that her attempts to stop the
bleeding had worked. He looked very embarrassed and understandably so, since
this was now the fifth violent incident he had been involved in. He sat
casually in the center of her Medical Ward still wearing his restaurant uniform
and bus-boy apron. He pointedly refused to look directly at the person seated
opposite him, completely ignoring the man’s hate-filled stare.

Karen carefully checked the
bruised left eye of her second patient, Jack Dandridge. He continued glaring at
Warren as she carefully verified that none of his cheek bones had been broken
in the earlier scuffle between the two men. Unlike Warren, Dandridge was still
fuming and red-faced, looking ready to continue his part of the fight at the
slightest provocation. The deterrent currently keeping him in check stood
firmly near the room’s exit… both men wore marine uniforms and looked very
annoyed at this latest disruption to ship’s security.

“Why don’t you try and settle
down, Mr. Dandridge,” Karen suggested. “I don’t think anything is broken, but
you’ll have to deal with the pain for a day or two until the bruise on your eye
begins to heal.”

“Can’t you give me something
for the pain?” Dandridge asked unpleasantly.

“Oh, I think a tough guy like
you can take a little discomfort,” she replied nonchalantly. “Or you wouldn’t
be starting fights, now would you?” She carefully touched a fresh, cold cloth
to the darkening bluish-black bruise under his eye and he flinched.

“You’re a member of our new
Council,” growled Dandridge. “So this is as much your fault as anyone. You’re
supposed to be leading us and yet you allow a known enemy to walk freely among
us.”

“He is
not
a free man,
Mr. Dandridge,” Karen said. “And he has
you
for a neighbor. From your
attitude I would guess that means he’s under a careful neighborhood watch…
whenever you’re at home, anyway.”

“Are you mocking me?” he
snarled.

“No,” she replied with a smile.
“I’m not mocking you… or your faith.” He flinched again, this time at her
remark and not from the injury.

“What do you know about
my
faith
?” he demanded.

“Oh, a lot actually,” she
commented. “You’ve been telling everyone on the ship what a deeply religious
person you are and how your God is great and everyone else’s is false. There
are only 897 people aboard, so word gets around… especially when you make your
points so often and so loudly.” He started to say something but one look from
her quieted him. “Me,” she continued, “I’m a healer, so I spend most of my time
listening
to people. Life and experience have both taught me that you
can get a much better sense of just who a person is by what he does as opposed
to what he says he does.”

“Oh really?” Dandridge said
snidely.

“That’s right,” she said,
carefully placing a large gauze bandage over his eye. “I checked my work
station when you were brought in. This is your
tenth
trip to our Medical
Ward in the two months that we’ve been out in space.” She glanced quickly at
the information on her console. “Headaches, upset stomach, lower back pain from
hauling the heavy equipment in the hangar bay, etc. etc.”

“It’s a really tough job down
there, especially when we were bringing all that mineral
rock
aboard.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Karen said.
“But there are dozens of other people working right alongside you and I haven’t
had a single visit from
any
of them.” She grabbed him firmly by the chin
and glared into his good eye. “That tells me you like taking full advantage of
the free health care offered on board this ship. Your loud-mouthed complaining
about other peoples’ faith tells me that you’re insecure about your own. And…
your claim to be a devout religious person tends to fall a little flat when
you’re brought in here injured because you tried to start a fight in a
restaurant with one of your peers.”

“He’s a member of that
Brotherhood!” Dandridge said, pointing at the man sitting quietly across from
him. “His
people
annihilated ours. For God’s sake, how can you…”

“I’m a member of the new
Council, remember?” she pointed out, letting go of his chin. “That means I’m
someone who
can
and
will
bear witness against you for unprovoked,
aggravated assault should this incident go to a trial.”

“Oh, come on!” he protested.
“You can’t seriously be saying that this
murderer
has the same rights as
everybody else?”

“That’s exactly what I’m
saying,” said Dr. Simmons, looking very angry herself. “The Captain has ordered
that
rule of law
will prevail on this ship. The Council and I freely
voted to offer a partial pardon to this man in exchange for his future good
behavior. He has also generously agreed to stop by now and then so that I can
study him and learn more about the mysterious culture he comes from.”

“
He is
not
my peer
!
”
Dandridge screamed.

“According to my tests, he
is
,”
said Karen. “He’s a man in much better shape than you are, by the way.” She
glanced over at Warren and gestured for him to stand up. “Patrick, will you
please repeat the strength test that you demonstrated for me yesterday
morning?”

Warren had been sitting quietly
minding his own business. He looked at her hesitantly and said, “Are you sure?
I don’t exactly see what that will prove?”

“Go ahead and show us,” Dr.
Simmons insisted. “We have plenty of furniture here on board the
Pathfinder
.”

Warren shrugged and stood up.
He walked over to the back of the room and tipped over one of the heavy wooden
tables set along the back wall. A few scattered papers, pens, and clipboards on
the table’s surface slid and fell to the floor as he did so. Patrick firmly
grabbed one of the table legs – the cylinder of wood was at least 3 inches
thick – and pulled it effortlessly loose. Dandridge and both marines watched in
astonishment as the cloned human carefully held up the heavy piece of wood and
snapped it in half as easily as most people would break a pretzel stick. He
continued by snapping the table leg into neat, 12 inch lengths and finished his
demonstration by taking one of the 12 inch pieces and also breaking it cleanly
down the middle. He dropped the two pieces he was holding onto the floor and
silently returned to his seat.

Karen turned back to Dandridge
and noted his terrified expression. “The next time you decide to pick a fight
with Mr. Warren, you might want to remember this little incident. He may not be
able to control his emotions and may seriously injure you.” She pointed to the
door. “We’re all done, Mr. Dandridge. If you put a clean bandage on your eye
tomorrow morning, I’m pretty sure you’ll live.” He paused to glare with
hostility at
her
this time. “I’d change that bad attitude of yours, and
fast,” she suggested, noticing his rage. “Uncontrolled hatred is going to get
you into major trouble on
this
ship.” She watched him walk out of the
room and then quietly returned her attention to Warren.

“I’m okay,” he insisted,
tossing the gauze from his nose into a wastebasket. “Really, Doctor, the
bleeding has stopped so I’d better get back to work. I promised the Captain…”

“Your promise was to the
Council
,”
she corrected him, easing him back into his seat. “And I seem to have to keep
pointing out to people that I’m a member of it.” She turned toward the marine
guards. “Please, wait outside. My patient has a right to confidentiality.”