The Pathfinder Project (45 page)

“Kiss me,” she said and Thomas
quickly obliged her. He had minimum experience at close encounters with women
so his hands delightfully began exploring the curves and surface of her skin.
Somewhere around that time her bra hit the floor followed almost immediately by
his shirt and suddenly they were kissing deeply and passionately. She pulled
back from his kiss and gasped for breath while Thomas sank to his knees,
kissing her beautiful naked breasts. Both his hands and hers worked furiously
to remove their remaining clothes.

“What if…” she gasped as he
continued kissing her breasts and bared stomach. “What if you and Glen can’t
get the CAS Drive fixed? That means we’re
trapped
in this gravity
river.”

“Oh we’ll get it working
again,” Thomas promised. “And if we don’t, then I guess I’m spending eternity
with
you
!” Laughing, he picked her up – Kari took the opportunity to
wrap her legs around his waist. She giggled uncontrollably as Thomas took a
step forward and nearly fell.

“Don’t quite… know if I’m… made
for this,” he chuckled as they stumbled toward the bedroom. He paused, noting
that George was walking curiously toward them, his feline instincts sensing
something interesting developing. “Sorry cat,” Thomas said firmly before
shutting the door. “This is strictly a matter for the human animal.”

*    
* * *     *

Early the next morning,
Kaufield arrived for the early watch in the Command Dome and took his usual
seat. Each day since their arrival within Poseidon’s influence, he had taken
the time to carefully study the overhead monitors, admiring the breathtaking
scenery that continually surrounded them within the gravity river. A
substantial amount of matter continually poured into its clutches and the
visible stars coming along for the ride kept everything brilliantly lit up in a
spectacular display of patterns and color. If their CAS systems weren’t so
thoroughly damaged the Captain would have been overjoyed at this opportunity to
study the natural wonder. However, the undeniable fact that many of their computers
were still non-functional simply reinforced his initial conclusion that the
power of this natural phenomenon needed to be respected.

Dennis was not comfortable
within Poseidon and never would be as long as they were trapped and unable to
generate a stable singularity. Of course there was the option of using shorter,
standard PTP transits to move the
Pathfinder
back into normal space. He
was simply not ready to choose that option yet since the ship would expend
massive amounts of fuel in the process. A non-CAS journey back to normal space
would require years of continual travel and almost certainly force them to stop
periodically in order to locate additional sources of fuel. He was proud of the
Lab team that they had assembled and confident that only time and patience was
needed in order to fully restore their CAS systems.

Of course there was also the
issue of just
who
had brought them here. That was yet another reason he
hesitated to begin moving out of the celestial river. Someone unknown to them
had obviously been observing their progress very closely since the
Pathfinder
left the Milky Way and had even gone so far as to ask for their trust.
Waiting to see whether a CAS singularity could be generated within Poseidon’s
gravity addressed at least three immediate issues: (1)
Could
they CAS
transit out again given the conditions of the environment surrounding them? (2)
Would
the unknown person or persons observing them show themselves or at
least attempt to make contact? And lastly, (3) It was the Captain’s experience
that patience was almost always rewarded in the long run. Taking their time in
this case gave Julie and her staff in the Observatory wing what they had most
longed for since their journey started – the opportunity to conduct a detailed
study of a marvel like Poseidon up close.

Thus far they had detected no
direct threat to the safety of the ship or its crew… that was what mattered
most to Kaufield at this point. The unexpected battle in the wasteland galaxy
had left him more than a little bit cautious. It had reinforced the need to be
watchful and mindful of the unpredictable dangers that surrounded them so far
from familiar space. The speed and precision of the alien attack had shocked
him, making the Captain more determined than ever to be ready for anything –
any danger – that might appear and threaten them again.

Dennis glanced up sharply,
noticing that Adam had snuck in sometime during his silent study of the
glittering nebulae on the monitors. The elder Roh was busy reviewing
information on the helm console with one hand while attempting to maintain his
grip on a hot cup of coffee with the other. The Ensign he relieved nodded
gratefully and headed toward the nearest exit, probably on his way to grab a
bite to eat and almost certainly to get some rest. The Comm-link next to the
Captain lit up and he quickly acknowledged the signal.

“
Good morning, Captain
Kaufield, this is Murray
,” Colonel Neeland said, his voice breaking the
peaceful silence that – until now – had dominated the Command Dome. “
I hate
to bother you this early, but we’ve got a situation in progress down here on
deck four and I could really use your help
.”

“What’s going on?” asked Dennis
curiously.

“
There’s another potential
security breach in Patrick Warren’s quarters. We’ve got a level one alert in
place down here and armed troops on the scene since people are naturally a bit
edgy where Mr. Warren is concerned
.”

“I’m on my way,” Kaufield
replied. “I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

“
Oh, and Captain
?” the
Colonel asked quickly.

“I’m still here,” said Dennis
reassuringly.

“
Before you do come down,
I’d suggest you take a look at security file
‘Murray100’
in the computer
log. It will explain a lot
.”

“Acknowledged,” replied
Kaufield. He snapped the Comm-link closed and activated his work station, using
it to quickly call up and review the information that Neeland had drawn his
attention to. He shook his head in dismay at what he saw before shutting down
the computer and rising to his feet. “Adam, I’m going down to deck four to see
what all the fuss is about. I’d be most grateful if you would mind the store
for me while I’m gone.”

“We’ll keep your seat warm,
sir,” Adam grinned cheerfully, taking a slow sip of coffee.

Kaufield found chaos on deck
four, but not at the high level he had expected. The marines had forced most of
the civilians back from around Patrick Warren’s quarters, but there was still a
large enough crowd of angry civilians to make the situation dangerous.

“
Traitor!
” someone
shouted angrily. “
Freaking child killer
!” Other people joined in,
shouting their own insults and heated comments. The situation was definitely in
danger of escalating and would certainly have done so by now if the marines had
not aggressively formed a protective circle, their backs to each other, at the
crowd’s center.

“Our Council gave you a
second
chance!” Jack Dandridge pointed out, standing at the forefront of the crowd
in the doorway to his quarters. “You Brotherhood murderers think you’ve beaten
us, but in the end you’ll find out that Americans cannot be held down for
long!”

The Captain wasn’t the least
bit surprised to see Jack leading the mob – his outright hatred for his
Brotherhood neighbor was well known amongst the crew. Dandridge pointed at
Patrick Warren, who was standing next to four armed marines and still wore an
apron from his morning shift in the restaurant.

Noticing Kaufield’s arrival,
Colonel Neeland hastily stepped forward to join him. His expression was
concerned but so far his troops had maintained the peace.

“Someone found a small black
rock lying in the corridor this morning,” Murray said informatively. “They
reported the find to Security, so we ran a priority check and it turned out to
be fuel ore. I immediately initiated a security alert and we searched Warren’s quarters. These were found in his desk drawer.” He carefully handed Kaufield
three more dark-colored mineral stones.

“That certainly explains our
current situation,” Dennis decided, glancing curiously at the stones in his
hand. “Thanks for taking charge and keeping things under control.”

“You’re welcome,” replied the
Colonel.

In front of them, Dandridge
pointed an angry finger at Warren. “We should shove you out a damned
airlock
for this!” he shouted. “That will put a stop to your private little bomb-making
business.” He waved his arms and tried to start a chant of “
Airlock,
airlock, airlock
…” Some members of the crowd began to chant with him but
were abruptly silenced as Kaufield stepped forward. He grabbed the hand
Dandridge was pointing with and yanked the man toward him, staring fiercely
into the other man’s eyes as he did so.

“Are you
finished?
” the
Captain snarled angrily. “I don’t appreciate people trying to form a lynch mob
on
my
ship.”

“He’s planning sabotage again,”
objected Dandridge furiously. “They found
more
fuel ore in his quarters
this morning –
ask
your marines if you don’t believe me!” Fuming, he
pointed at the troops standing next to Warren.

Kaufield carefully held up the
stones in his hand. “Do you mean
these
particular rocks?” he asked
curiously.

“Yes. He
thought
he
covered his tracks this time, but he dropped one in the corridor and the
marines found those in his quarters while he was working in the restaurant.”
Behind them, the crowd had quieted some but most of the passengers still had
murderous expressions on their faces. It was definitely an unpleasant situation
to be faced with and it certainly could not be allowed to escalate into
violence. Dennis sighed patiently and held up a hand for quiet as the Colonel
and his troops ordered the crowd to back up some more. This helped to abruptly
calm everyone down as passengers had to jockey for new positions to watch from.

“We checked, Captain,” said one
of the marines. “There’s no sign of forcible entry into his quarters. And we
really
did
find the mineral stones in there.”

“Mr. Warren no longer has
security clearance to be in the
Pathfinder
’s hangar bay or in our
Laboratory,” Kaufield pointed out. “So a curious guy like me is wondering just
where he got these stones from.”

“What does it matter?” someone
in the crowd shouted. “He had the stones and we know from experience that he
likes to sit in his quarters and make bombs.” Murmurs began in the crowd and
the cries of protest began to start up again.

“Yes it
does
matter,”
Dennis replied, quieting the crowd again through sheer force of will. “Because
as soon as we abandon the rule of law and due process, that’s when the
Brotherhood will have beaten us spiritually as well as on the battlefield.
Their society annihilated ours and many of them are guilty of murder, but this
man is not…” He pointed at Patrick Warren for emphasis. “This man has not
killed anyone.”

“Give him time,” one of the
hangar bay technicians said spitefully. “He’ll renew his commitment to kill us
all.”

“Quite the contrary, actually,”
objected Kaufield. “The Council and I met with Mr. Warren many times after his
initial mission of espionage was revealed to us. We found him quite guilty of
those crimes and he agreed to meet
all
of our conditions in return for
limited freedom aboard the
Pathfinder
. One of those conditions was that
he fully cooperate with our efforts to learn more about the Brotherhood – a
project that I think you’ll all agree is absolutely
critical
if we’re
ever to find a way to fight back against them.”

“That doesn’t excuse his crime!”
retorted Dandridge. “You’ve had plenty of time to
study
him… it’s time
for justice! Throw the bastard out an airlock, I say!”

“Yes, give him the airlock
express!” the hangar technician agreed. “Space the Brotherhood saboteur!”

Dennis continued to calmly look
Dandridge directly in the eyes. He noticed that the man was sweating profusely,
with large drops of moisture noticeably running down his forehead. “You use the
word
justice
,” said Kaufield angrily, “But you have no idea what it
actually means. You simply distort it to justify your hatred… and I think you’d
willingly sacrifice this man’s life whether he’s guilty or not – as long as it
satisfies
your
craving for vengeance.”

“He’s not a
man
! That
genetically enhanced freak was caught red-handed
again
,” Dandridge
insisted.

“Was he, Jack?” asked Kaufield
carefully. “Are you absolutely
certain
of that?”

“Yes! You’re holding the
evidence,” spoke up one of the marines.

“I’m holding three stones,” the
Captain replied. “Any system of justice worth its salt takes its time to search
for the
truth
… not by reacting wildly based on appearances and
circumstantial evidence. You’ll note that I pointed out earlier that Patrick
Warren willingly agreed – as a part of his sentencing by the Council – to a
series of conditions. Another of those conditions was that he leave his door
unlocked at all times… hence the lack of forced entry.”

“And the fuel ore?” Dandridge
seethed. “How do you explain that?”

“He
also
agreed to 24
hour, internal video surveillance of his quarters,” Kaufield said flatly,
continuing to observe Dandridge carefully. He normally didn’t get too
personally involved in situations such as this one, but he truly enjoyed
watching the man squirm with visible discomfort. “Just before I came down here
I watched a video log taped earlier this morning. It shows you, Jack Dandridge,
entering Patrick’s quarters shortly after he reported for work. I watched you
carefully search his room and then plant the three stones in his desk drawer.
If you like, we can go up to the Command Dome and I’ll let you watch the video
yourself.”