Chapter Nine

“We have contact. Bearing 0-9-2.”

“Looks like their sickbay.”

“What about the pods?” Alex hadn’t taken his eyes from the screen since the Vision exploded. His mind and feelings had long since retreated, taking a back seat while the rest of him played Captain, giving orders and listening to his crew call out reports and findings.

Beside him, almost forgotten in the chaos, Evan watched the screen. “That piece of wreckage is their sickbay?”

Alex nodded. “Sickbays are double-shielded, designed to jettison automatically.” He never took his eyes from the large chunk of debris the scanners were focused on. “It serves as a base for all escape pods to congregate to. Medical staff and anyone else in sickbay would have been launched the instant the ship began to break up.”

“So there are survivors.”

Alex turned and glared at Evan, feeling the first twinge of anger beginning to break through the false bubble of control he’d been hiding behind. “There have to be.” He looked back at the screen. “Get a transport out there to bring it in. And keep looking!”

“Aye-aye.”

The activity and quick response of the crew behind him began to slow down as less and less urgency filled the bridge. Two hours of scan sweeps had picked up nothing but chunks of metal and floating detritus, all that was left of an exploration ship and crew of ninety-four. Alex could feel the cold touch of reality hovering behind him, waiting for him to deal with what happened. His control was winding down. The comforting wall of instinct and disassociation were wearing thin and he didn’t want to come out from behind them. Not yet.

On the screen they could see a small transport vehicle make contact with the sickbay as it locked on and dragged the survivors to the Ascalon.

“We have contact.”

Alex turned away from the screen and faced his bridge crew.

“They’re listing the ship’s physician, two medical crew . . . There were five patients in sickbay at the time.”

“Names?” Alex couldn’t meet anyone’s gaze. It felt as if his eyes were glazed over, as if everything that was happening was simply in a report someone set on his desk.

The comm. officer began relaying the names as he was given the information. “Doctor Zane, two assistants, Marie Dumont and Katherine Marks. Data Technician Keith Andrews. Chief Mining Officer Edwards, Charles Edwards. Two navigation officers, Lauren Merk and Ted Raines.” The officer looked up, trying to catch his captain’s eye. “And their Bridge Officer, Jeff.”

Alex blinked, focusing finally on the officer below him. “Jeff?”

“Yes, sir. Apparently he was in sickbay at the time.”

“No one else?” He glanced around, noticing then that Evan was down below, standing with his left hand pressed against one of the scanner consoles.

“It happened too fast.” Evan shook his head. “There isn’t anyone else out there.”

The cold shock that had been holding Alex together began to melt away with the heat of a rage that surprised him. “I want full reports from all survivors immediately after they’ve been checked in sickbay.”

“Aye, sir.”

“And keep scanning that debris field. We don’t give up until every inch of that wreckage has been checked five times!” He turned and started walking around the upper level toward the main door. “I’ll be in my quarters, preparing the transmission.”

“Aye, sir!”

Anger and adrenaline made taking the lift impossible. He wanted to run, to sprint as far away from that sight as he possibly could. As it was, he had to rely on three flights of access ladders and two long hallways to help cool the burning in mind and body. His heart was racing when he reached his door, but he knew it wasn’t from the trip. Vaguely, he noticed Evan only a few feet behind, silently following him back to their quarters.

Once inside, the rage took over, pushing what little was left of his calm control completely out of his reach. He turned to focus on the only person he could ask.

“What the hell happened out there?!” Alex faced Evan as he shut the door behind them.

“The probe sent a command much like the one that sabotaged our engines.”

Evan’s answer was a little too plainly obvious for him to take. “This wasn’t sabotage, this was murder!” Alex paced further into the room. His head was spinning, and his face alternating between burning red with rage and the white chill of shock. “The man who sabotaged our engines was onboard the Vision.”

“It could have been programmed before it was even loaded on the ship.”

Alex reached the window and turned around quickly, pacing toward the couch. The shock of what had actually happened was sinking in, dragging at his gut like a lead weight. “Eighty-six people died out there!” He waved one hand toward the window behind him, unwilling to look for fear some of the wreckage would be visible. His face was burning red again as he looked at Evan, standing just inside the door, a black contrast to his white-hot emotions. “Or it could have been someone over here?”

“It isn’t your fault.”

“Dammit!” Alex picked something up from the small table beside the couch. “Eighty-six people are dead!”

“But it isn’t your fault.”

“It has to be someone’s fault!” Before he knew what he was doing, he’d launched the little glass sculpture across the room. The thick glass smacked into the wall several feet away from Evan, then bounced with a very unsatisfying thud on the carpet. There was no musical shattering of glass to match the uncontrollable shaking deep inside.

“Yes, it has to be someone’s fault.” Evan walked purposefully toward Alex and clutched his arms with both hands, preventing him from turning away to pace the room again. “But it isn’t yours!”

“How do you know?” Alex pulled out of Evan’s grip with one violent motion, stepping back a half step. “I put everything on being the first one there, the first one to win.” He stared into the Sha’erah’s black eyes, almost afraid he was going to see wreckage of the Vision reflected there. “It was never worth this! Nothing could be worth this!”

“We may learn more after you’ve spoken to the survivors.” Evan was obviously trying to be the logical, calming voice of reason.

It wasn’t working.

“You made contact with that probe, didn’t you?” Alex felt a chill on his face as the burning rage again gave way to cold shock.

“I saw it self-destruct.” Evan shrugged. “Something struck me as wrong about the data it was sending back. I should have seen it happening sooner.”

A second chill coursed down Alex’s spine. His heart felt as if it was skipping beats. The ring around his finger felt cold and loose, almost as if it would slip off, but when he turned away and began twisting it as he paced, it was as snug a fit as ever.

“You’re in shock, you’re not thinking clearly right now.”

“Damn right I’m in shock.” Alex continued to walk slowly away, toward the galley. “Eighty-six people are dead. Someone murdered them, and that someone is on board my ship.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Don’t we?” Alex turned around, his heart pounding in his throat. He didn’t really know anything any more: his ship, the safety of his crew, even this man standing here looking at him with an alien sense of reason. He still felt like throwing things, or hitting someone, as illogical and stupid as it may be. Evan hadn’t even flinched when he’d hurled the glass. Was this what his father used to do when he was angry? “I need to make a report, send a transmission back to Scotian.”

Evan took a few steps forward. “You should go to sickbay, you don’t look –”

“I’m fine!” Alex held up a hand that stopped Evan in his tracks. “Just leave me alone so I can do this!”

Without a single word of protest, Evan walked straight for the door and left. Alex heard the locking sequence key in from outside then saw the indicator above the door reflect the DO NOT DISTURB notice glowing for all passers-by to see.

He’d never been so alone. Figuratively and literally.

Alex felt drained as he instructed the computer to take down his report. Since he was already in the galley, he retrieved a glass of scotch and paced slowly back to the center of the room, trying to gather what few thoughts he had left.

“Time and date of incident on record.” Alex spoke to the computer, but his gaze was fixed somewhere near the carpeted floor. “Cause of explosion still unknown, but source seems to be one of two long-range probes launched approximately thirty minutes prior.” Saying it out loud solidified the facts, cutting off all possibility that this was just a bad dream he could still wake from. A swallow of the whisky caused a flush to rise again to Alex’s face as he added the names of the survivors to the recording. “Captain Franklin had no time to react, and apparently had no indication of any tampering prior to launch.” There weren’t even bodies to return. Accidents in space rarely afforded proper funerals. Everyone knew the risks. “God, what have I done?” And why did this feel like his fault? “Strike last sentence.” Alex took another swallow. “As soon as possible the sickbay recorder will be retrieved and evaluated for clues.” He hated doing these reports. During his short stint in the military, he’d made a few of these incident reports, but never anywhere near this level. He was used to equipment being lost to negligence that had to be documented and reported by every officer onboard. The occasional fighter pilot who didn’t make it back.

Not this.

He finished the scotch in one more swallow, then hurried through the facts in as mundane a manner as possible, ending the recording quickly so it could be transmitted as soon as each survivor added his or her information.

After pouring another glass of scotch, Alex walked to the window. Logic finally assured him no debris would be visible by the naked eye from this side of the Ascalon, so he leaned into the heavily shielded glass, pressing his forehead against the hard surface.

“Wake up, Alex.”

Couldn’t he still be asleep on the couch, dreaming all of this? He knew he wasn’t. He knew it long before he started the dictation. He just couldn’t accept it. Nothing was right. In fact, nothing had been right since the morning he took that call. “Damn you, VanHolt.” There were so many ifs, so many variables to each choice he could have or should have taken, it made his head spin thinking of them.

Alex wasn’t sure how long he stood there, head pressed against the glass with a forgotten glass of whisky in one hand, but the muffled voices outside the door finally registered. He straightened up and set the glass down on his way to the door, only then remembering Evan and his own order to be left alone. “Oh, God.”

The door whisked open with a brush of air. Alex let out the breath he’d been holding when he saw Evan standing in the hallway, facing Jeff.

“Alex, I was trying to get him to buzz you.” Jeff looked from Alex to Evan, then back again.

“Come in.” Alex stepped aside and motioned for his former second-in-command to step inside. “We need to talk.” He glanced at Evan, trying to think of something to say that would send him off somewhere for a while.

Evan seemed to nod ever so slightly, then glanced quickly at Jeff’s back as the man walked into the room. “I’ll be on the bridge.”

“Fine.” Alex closed the door and felt his heart stop racing. “You wouldn’t believe what happened the last time I told him I wanted to be left alone.”

“I can imagine.” Jeff walked slowly into the room, glancing around at the subtle changes that had taken place since he left.

“Alice wasn’t on board, was she?”

“No, thank God. She got a job back on Scotian so she stayed there.”

“Help yourself to a drink.” Alex left his own glass where it was. “Jeff, did anyone else make it out?”

“No.” Jeff poured himself a drink, diluting it with several ice cubes, then turned to face Alex, shaking his head. “It was too fast. Sick bay was jettisoned before we even knew what was happening.” He sipped his drink and leaned back against the counter, rubbing his forehead. “God, Alex, I can’t believe it. Who would do this? Your doctor said he heard a command from our probe made our engines go critical?”

“We think so.” Alex felt his consciousness wanting to glaze over in mental retreat. He had to force himself to stay put. “None of this makes any sense.” He paced the room again, slowly twisting the ring around his finger. “First our engines are damaged by someone in your crew, now this.”

“It couldn’t have been someone on our crew, Alex. It would have meant suicide.”

“I know.” Alex couldn’t help but be grateful for Jeff’s survival. All previous feelings of betrayal seemed to be fading away. “I can’t believe any of it.” He gave up pacing and sat down heavily on the couch, staring at the silver ring he still played with.

“Place looks a little different.”

“He lives here.”

“I know.”

When Jeff sat down, Alex noticed the glass figure he was returning to the table. There wasn’t even a crack to validate his anger.

“You’re still going in, aren’t you?”

Alex snorted. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?”

“What?”

He looked up, gazing out the window. The Pendulum Nebula glowed bright and close. “It’s the only reason any of us came out here.”

Jeff nodded, looking at the gas giant. “Going back won’t fix anything.”

Alex looked at the ring again, turning it slowly back and forth. “I keep trying to go back in my mind, trying to find the moment it all went south.” He shook his head. “But I can’t. Every decision I made, everything that happened, just takes me in a circle.” With a heavy sigh, he leaned back and stared blankly at the ceiling. “Not taking that call from the lawyer would have left me without funding, but Carpenter came through anyway, so I’d still be out here. Selling him would have –” Alex swallowed the part of his sentence that would bring up his father. “I’d’ve had funding and been out here anyway.”

“Stop it, Alex.” Jeff leaned back beside him and stared up at the ceiling as well. “That kind of thinking doesn’t do anyone any good.” He sighed. “I don’t know, maybe I’m still in shock. It hasn’t really kicked in yet, I don’t think. One minute I’m in sickbay with a mild case of food poisoning, the next minute I’m being rescued from what should have been a routine mission.”

“You should have been here.” Alex remembered that day as if it had just happened. “I was an idiot to let you quit like that. Hell, I didn’t even argue.”

“Forget it.”

“No.” Alex sat up, shaking his head. All those feelings of anger and backstabbing were suddenly focused inward. “It was my fault. It was – I was still reeling from the stupidity of it all.” He gave his old friend an apologetic glance. “It’s not every day someone leaves you a human being in their will. I wasn’t handling any of it well. I was looking for a fight I could win and you were it.” He stood again and walked toward the window. For some reason, the ship that had felt like home for so many years suddenly felt claustrophobic.

“Alex . . .” Jeff sat up and set his drink on the table. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, about how both of us over-reacted. I was too quick to throw away so many good years together. Alice and I both, we . . . Well we felt like we had a family going here. We even thought you and Sara were about to enter a bonding contract.”

Alex laughed shortly and shook his head. “Yeah, well, that didn’t quite work out.” The fact that she’d left for a paying job a week before he got funding hadn’t helped. “She didn’t waste any time moving out.”

“Well, neither did Alice. And I was quick to follow her.”

“It really hurt seeing you on a rival ship, I gotta tell you. We’d been an unbeatable team for too long.”

“I know, but at the time it was the right thing for me to do.” Jeff stood, slowly walking to the window. “I admit I was pretty freaked by this Sha’erah thing. Not as freaked as you were maybe, but there wasn’t time to sit down and talk about it. You were going ahead, bringing this guy on that no one knew anything about. Alice let some rumors get the better of her, and I admit the whole concept really struck me as wrong.”

“I know. It was a lot. Too much. The timing sucked, that’s for sure. But I had to make a choice and stick with it. I can’t explain, but it was right.”

“And now this.”

Alex looked at his old friend. “He had nothing to do with it.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“No,” Alex shook his head sharply. “I trust him, Jeff. He’s been the only one I can trust lately.”

“So you can control him?”

Alex laughed. “Control? I wouldn’t call it that.” He pushed away from the window and started pacing again, trying to turn his frustration into a more positive motion. “He does things he thinks are for my best interest, whether I like them or not.”

“But don’t you see? That’s exactly what I feared from the start.” Jeff moved to the edge of the round table and sat so he could see Alex as he paced around the room. “Alex, this guy is part alien.”

“No one knows that.”

“No, they don’t. No one seems to know much about them.” He inhaled deeply and leaned forward as if about to explain something complex to a student. “Try to put yourself in my shoes for just a minute. My captain comes back from one of the worst sections of the galaxy, with a Sha’erah in tow. Something he didn’t even believe existed until that week. I see this dark, dangerous looking guy with God knows what kind of tricks up his sleeve, and I’m supposed to trust him with everything, no questions asked.”

Alex hated it when people insisted on making logical sense when he was this upset.

“You were being too stubborn at the time to listen to reason. And I admit, I wasn’t exactly feeling politically correct about him. It was so unlike you to do something like that, and such bad timing, we both let our emotions get in the way.”

Alex knew if he told Jeff everything that happened back on Cryian, he’d only be justifying those emotions. No sense looking back when the past just sat there staring at you. At least he had this chance to make amends. And he had his family back, such as it was.

He stopped pacing. “Now what?”

Jeff stood and smiled a sort of side-ways grin he had at times. “Well, my old room is Evan’s now. I won’t argue that. I’m just a rescued survivor, willing to serve in whatever capacity you need for now.”

“There are spare quarters somewhere. There always are.”

“I know.” Jeff stopped when he was beside Alex and slapped him on the back. “I’ll make do, don’t worry. Just . . . keep an eye out, okay? I know you’re sure Evan had nothing to do with this, but for my sake, be careful?”

“I trust him. He’s a good man, Jeff. You’ll just have to trust me on that.” Alex walked to the door, but at his old friend’s insistence, stayed in his quarters to sort things out. There was still a chance the data recorder in sickbay had information, something that might explain what happened, if not why. Alex sat on the couch for hours before realizing he hadn’t had a clear thought since he sat down.

Or a single interruption. It was after midnight, clearly no other survivors had been found. It was over.

The bridge was eerily quiet, manned only by the night shift who nodded their acknowledgments when Alex walked through the door. The mood of the entire ship would be dramatically subdued for a while, as each one dealt with the tragedy in their own way.

Alex walked to the office, trying to gather his thoughts along the way, such as they were. His mind kept going back to that glass statue, the sound of it smacking the wall, and the look on Evan’s face. All that crap about not wanting to become his father, and what had he done? Even when the object left his hand, he remembered hearing a tiny voice of reason explaining why that was a ridiculous thing to do. But at the time, all he wanted to hear was the sound of something breaking, very loudly and as a direct result of his anger.

He found Evan sitting on the edge of the couch at the computer terminal. His left hand rested on the input pad while his eyes looked distant and unfocused. Alex cleared his throat. “It’s late.”

Evan blinked, then focused on Alex and took his hand away from the computer. “We didn’t find any more survivors.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry. I know on a certain level, Captain Franklin was your friend.”

“He was a colleague.” Alex walked to the edge of the desk and leaned against it. “Things like this aren’t supposed to happen.”

“I promise you, I had nothing to do with –”

Alex held up one hand, stopping his sentence. “It’s all right, I believe you.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “If I had let you monitor that probe from the minute it launched, you might have seen it coming sooner.”

“We don’t know that.” Evan pushed the computer away and looked at Alex. “I’ve been angry with myself for not having done that anyway. I did, sort of, but obviously not soon enough.”

“Well, I guess we’ve both done the requisite self-mutilation.” Alex straightened up and rubbed his eyes again, then nodded toward the door. “Let’s call it a night. What’s done is done. All we can do now is try to figure out the who and why.” If that was even possible.

Evan followed him out of the office and they returned to their quarters in exhausted silence. Each struggling with the tragic events and consequences and feelings of guilt that did neither man any good.

“I thought Jeff . . .” Evan let his sentence trail off as he glanced around their living quarters.

“Thought Jeff what?” Alex looked up, puzzled, then realized what Evan wasn’t saying. “These aren’t his quarters anymore.” Does he really think I’m that shallow? “He and the other survivors can have temporary quarters, then stay with the mining team and catch a ride back when our claim is settled.”

Evan only nodded in reply, but Alex couldn’t help noticing a look of relief in those black eyes.

“What do we do now?”

Alex sat on the couch, staring out into space. “Tomorrow we’ll have to go over the recordings from the sickbay emergency procedures, see if they show anything significant. After that, there’s nothing else we can do, so we’ll keep going in.” He started twisting the ring around his finger.

“It’s after midnight, you should get some sleep.” Evan walked past the couch and stood at the window, looking out. “You didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Neither of us did.” It was hard to believe how one fantastic night could turn into such a horrific day. Alex leaned back in the couch and his gaze fell to the glass figurine. “Listen, I’m sorry about that little display earlier.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Evan turn to face him. “I don’t usually throw things when I’m angry.” At least not at people. When he looked up, he met a puzzled gaze.

“You had every right to be angry.”

“Maybe.” Alex stood up. He was weary, but knew there was no chance of sleeping anytime soon. Too much had happened in too short a time. But, he was at least determined to make the attempt in bed this time. “But I had no right to take it out on you, or anyone else.”

“I’ll start examining the sickbay recordings, see if I can come up with anything by morning.”

“No.” Alex stopped at his door. Evan, reluctantly obedient, had stopped just short of the desk. “Leave it. We’re both exhausted. Just go get some sleep, we’ll deal with it in the morning.”

“But I could –”

“Get some sleep.” Alex stopped just short of telling him it was an order, but he allowed his tone to convey the message in no uncertain terms.

Grudgingly, Evan nodded and went to his room.

__________

That night brought little sleep and the next day brought fewer answers. Evan and several technicians scoured the emergency beacon built into the Vision’s sick bay for hours. They found no clues and precious few facts. The probe’s last signal had been a direct coded command to unshield the ship’s massive engines, causing an immediate meltdown of all controls. Within seconds, the fuel had gone critical. It had happened too quickly for anyone to reach a life pod, or even realize what was wrong. Only those already in sick bay were saved when the unit automatically sealed and jettisoned away from the exploding ship.

Alex let Jeff accompany him while interviewing each of the survivors, but they had been just as shocked as everyone when they found themselves sealed up and jettisoned. The non-medical personnel had, like Jeff, been in sickbay for simple cases of food poisoning, and otherwise would have been killed with the rest of the crew.

“I can assure you all, standard rules apply.” Alex stood in the middle of the large room in sickbay, addressing all eight. “As soon as we’ve staked our claim, and chances are that will be soon, we’ll set up a mining team and send word back. You can stay with them and catch the first ride back to Scotian or sign on with the Ascalon. I won’t need decisions from any of you until then, so please, make yourselves at home here while you think about it.” There were nods and slight smiles all around. “I’m sure Jeff here can help you with any messages you might want to transmit back home.” Alex glanced at his old friend. “And if you need me or have any other problems, you can contact my second. I know you haven’t met Evan yet, but you can usually find him on the bridge.”

The look Jeff directed at him was quick, and almost instantly replaced, but the impression of surprise and icy anger was unmistakable, a sudden, cold reminder of recently healed wounds.

“That’s very charitable of you, Captain.” Dr. Zane approached, smiling widely. “I wonder if I might have a word, in private?”

“Certainly.” Alex gave Jeff one last glance, then stepped out into the hallway where the Vision’s chief physician waited. “Doctor Zane, right?”

“Or Philip, if you prefer.” The doctor stood a good foot taller than Alex, but his friendly smile and nearly white hair softened any intimidation factor. “I understand you have a Sha’erah on board?”

Alex tensed, readying himself for an argument. “Evan, he’s my second-in-command.”

Dr. Zane smiled, nodding happily. “I’d love to meet him, Captain. You see, I did my doctoral thesis on Sha’erah and their possible origins. Fascinating people.”

Alex blinked in surprise.

“I admit, I’m not exactly in favor of how they’re used, no offense to you, Captain. Slavery in this day and age is just . . . well, wrong.”

“None taken, doctor. And it’s Alex.” He couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing, but he wasn’t about to miss any opportunity. “I agree completely, believe me. Until the day I inherited Evan I had no idea Sha’erah existed. I certainly never expected to find a doctor who knew all about them.”

“Inherited? Well then, that changes some things.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, just that . . . ” Dr. Zane glanced around, making sure they were still the only two in the corridor. “Well, I’d heard other things, and while it’s not for me to judge, I hadn’t realized you didn’t purchase this man yourself.”

He didn’t have to think too hard to come up with the source of those rumors. Alex chose to ignore it. “You’re a godsend, Doctor. I’ve got a million questions for you.”

Jeff approached from behind, interrupting with no apologies. “Alex, we should see if those technicians have anything yet.”

“We’ve plenty of time, Captain, I assure you. I’ve spoken with your Doctor Gorman and he has graciously agreed to put my nurses and myself to work here, to pass the time.”

“Later, then.” Alex smiled at the doctor as they shook hands, then he turned and allowed Jeff to hurry him out of the medical bay. “What’s your rush? They haven’t found anything.”

“How do you know?” Jeff didn’t slow down until they reached the nearest lift.

“If they had, Evan would have called me.” Alex twisted his head around until his neck popped. The stress and fatigue were creeping up his back, stiffening his joints and threatening a nasty sleep-deprivation headache.

“You’re sure of that?”

Alex glanced at Jeff, irritated by the tone of his voice. “Yes, I am.”

“Unless he had something to do with it.” The lift doors opened up and Jeff boarded the car.

Alex followed him inside. “I told you, Evan had nothing to do with it. You don’t have to like him, Jeff. But until you have hard evidence against him, you’re going to have to respect him like anyone else around here.”

Jeff made no reply, so they rode the lift to the bridge level in silence. He knew this couldn’t have been as simple as he thought. Having Jeff back might feel right and normal in some respects, but then again, he’d been gone for months. Alex had finally been given time to get used to Evan as a member of the crew, if not as a Sha’erah, and aside from a few arguments, they’d been getting along just fine. In fact, he found he rather liked those arguments. Evan seemed to enjoy the sparring as well. It was too much to ask for Jeff to ease into that rapport.

“How’s it going?” Alex took the lead when he stepped onto the bridge, approaching Evan and the other technicians huddled around several terminals.

The Sha’erah looked up, ignoring Jeff completely as he met Alex’s gaze. His reply was one simple shake of his head.

“Okay, I think it’s safe to say there’s nothing there to find.” He motioned with his head for Evan to follow them to the office, then started around the walkway with Jeff following. “It’s time to get back on course and get this job done.”

Alex paused near the office door and gave his bridge crew the order to return to the course that would take them into the nebula. They had a planet with strong potential to sample and claim.

Inside the office, Evan took his usual seat at the end of the couch, pulling the computer around to face him so he could call up the last probe’s data. Alex sat behind the desk, and after a moment’s hesitation, Jeff took a seat at a small table beside the large screen used for conferences.

“Do you have confirmation readings yet?”

Alex looked up from his smaller screen. “Yes, we do. C-3 and her parent are definite sources.”

Jeff shook his head slowly. “To think, it all lay right there, just inside the gas, and Franklin didn’t even make it that far.”

Alex glanced at Evan, then back to Jeff. “He died doing what he loved. They all did.”

“How strong are the readings?”

“Good enough.” Alex looked back at his screen and scanned the information blinking at him in bright red. Something made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he wasn’t sure what it was. Probably a residual reaction to everything that had been happening. But then Again . . .

“Why don’t you go ahead and transmit your claim now, then?”

Alex looked up again, puzzled. “We can’t stake a claim without hard evidence. You know that.” He looked at Evan and found the man eyeing Jeff as well.

“I know, but it seems like a moot point. There’s no competition. No harm in staking a claim that might not pan out in the end if no one’s going to argue the point.”

Alex blinked, eyebrows knitting together. “We’ll be there in a few days, as long as the nebula doesn’t give us any trouble. What’s the hurry?”

Jeff shrugged, but before he could reply, a beeping sound began emanating from his jacket. He reached in and retrieved a small PDA, glanced at the display, then returned the unit to his pocket.

“When did you start carrying a personal computer, Jeff?”

“I finally took your advice.” Jeff smiled, standing up. “They do come in handy after all. If you’ll excuse me, a couple of my people have need of me.”

Alex watched him leave, then returned to his study of the geologist’s findings, trying not to puzzle over Jeff’s behavior. He had, after all, narrowly escaped a tragic accident that had claimed the lives of his captain and crew. And his continued dislike of Evan wasn’t exactly out of place, considering how little he knew him.

“You look tired.” Evan’s voice was quiet.

“I am tired.” Alex looked up. “Once we get inside that gas, our sensors are going to be unreliable. We’ll have to have a distinct route mapped out, inch by inch, before we’re blinded.” He stretched, popping his back. “Then I can get some sleep.” Maybe. Last night’s few minutes of actual rest had been filled with images of the Vision breaking into a million bright pieces, floating dead in space. “All we have to do is get into orbit around C-3’s primary, drop the miners down there for some sampling, and we’ve got it made.”

“What happens then?”

“We transmit our claim, with proof, set the miners up on the planet and anyone else wanting to stay, and we’re home free.”

“You mean the Vision’s survivors?”

“If they want to. It’s their best bet for a quick ride home.” Alex sat back in the chair and flipped a switch, setting the screen alive with images of the Pendulum Nebula. “I’m not going back right away. Not before I get out there and see what that anomaly is.”

Evan looked at the screen, nodding. “I’d like to see it, too.”

Alex laughed shortly. “I thought you didn’t believe anything was there?”

“I’m not sure I do.” Evan shrugged. “But I’d like to find out if I’m right or not.”

“Yeah, well, so would I.” He sat forward again, rubbing tired eyes. “But meantime, there’s work to be done.”

__________

The next several days passed by in slightly uncomfortable routine. Alex and Evan used the large three-dimensional room display often to map out exact coordinates through the nebula’s gasses, to the large planet C-3 orbited, often spending entire nights surrounded by the stars and swirling colors hovering in the room. As impressed as he was with Evan’s invention, Alex found himself reluctant to show it to Jeff, and rarely invited him into the quarters they used to share. He couldn’t help the sense that something fundamental about Jeff had changed, something lurking under the surface that Alex couldn’t put his finger on no matter how hard he tried. The Sha’erah fell completely silent whenever Jeff was around, and Jeff never once addressed him directly.

Evan spent the time Alex and Jeff were together doing his security sweeps, walking through the ship daily, inspecting loading bays and storage rooms.

“I’m not sure this is anything to worry about.” Evan set a data reader on the table then sat down for dinner. “Everything checks out all right, but I can’t find a reason behind it.”

“What’s that?” Alex picked up the reader and looked at the information displayed there while reaching for his coffee.

“Crates are being moved around, contents shifted. Nothing’s missing or out of place, and everything is documented. I just don’t understand why it’s being done.” He stabbed some meat with a fork, reading the information upside down while Alex flipped through the pages.

“Maybe someone’s looking for something. But that doesn’t make sense, everything in these crates is documented.”

“I’d like your permission to investigate this. It just doesn’t feel right.”

Alex nodded around a mouthful of dinner, then set the reader down. “You don’t need my permission. If you think something’s going on, do whatever you feel you need to.” He looked at Evan and noticed hesitation in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I think . . . I’m unclear on one point.” He paused, then seemed to steel himself and continued. “With Jeff back, what exactly is my role on this ship?”

Alex nearly choked on his coffee. “I should have seen this coming.” He set the cup down and dried his lip. Odd, he’d forgotten to shave again. It was a wonder he hadn’t recognized his father in the mirror this morning. “Nothing’s changed, Evan. You’re my second-in-command and if you’re running into any problems with anyone, just let me know who they are. Jeff isn’t back, he’s just one of the survivors we picked up.” Alex was feeling that way with growing certainty. “I admit, for a little while, I thought maybe things would be different. Not that I would have changed your title here. Jeff made sure of that by leaving the first time.” He sighed and shook his head.

“If you want him back –”

“I don’t.” Alex looked up sharply, then had to wonder at his own sudden emotional reaction. “He left. He had his reasons and I had mine. He’s just a hitchhiker now. And if he’s trying to muscle back into his old position with the rest of the crew, I’ll stop that right now.”

Evan held up a hand. “I think I’d rather you didn’t.”

“What?”

“I’m sure there’s nothing I can’t handle. I just wanted to know where I stood, that’s all.”

Alex pondered that a moment, then nodded. “Okay.” He turned his attention back to dinner. “You should have said something sooner if Jeff is bothering you. Or if me having him around the bridge too much is getting in your way.”

“It’s not my place to tell you what to do on your ship.”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, right. Since when has that ever stopped you?”

Evan’s look only drew more laughter, so the Sha’erah stood and cleared the table. “I’ll let you know if I find out what’s going on in the storage bays. Did you know the other crew from the Vision all carry the same PDA Jeff does? All but the medical personnel.”

“Maybe they’re standard issue or something.” Alex remembered Doctor Zane’s comments about Sha’erah and the fact that he hadn’t yet had a chance to speak with the man in private. There always seemed to be something interrupting him every time he tried.

“You know I can’t scan them without making physical contact.”

“You think that’s a problem?”

Evan shrugged, poured himself another cup of coffee, and walked out to the couch. “They pose a certain concern. It’s an unknown factor. Those computers hold huge amounts of data that I can’t access. Even their signals back and forth are out of my reach, unless I have my hands on a unit.”

“You know, I still don’t understand this.” Alex leaned back into the cushions of the couch and stared out at the purple gasses now filling the view. “First our engines are damaged, so we lose our lead. That was someone on the Vision.” Beside him, Evan nodded quietly. “But then the Vision is completely destroyed, presumably by someone over here.”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“But anything else would mean suicide.”

Evan looked at him. “There were survivors.”

“They were in sickbay.” Alex knew that didn’t mean a thing, but he felt it required saying. “Doctor Zane has records showing mild food poisoning.”

“Records can be faked,” Evan offered. “But so can symptoms.”

Alex closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “You think Jeff might have something to do with it?” When there was no reply, he opened his eyes again and looked at Evan. “You do, don’t you?”

“I don’t think we can rule him out.”

“Well,” Alex sighed again, heavily. “I don’t either.”

Evan blinked at him, then seemed to think something over and nodded very slightly.

“I’m not saying I think he did. But I’ve been stewing over some things lately that I can’t ignore. Not considering what happened to Franklin.”

“Like?”

Alex shrugged. “I can’t put my finger on anything specific. But he’s different. Or maybe I’m different, and Jeff’s fine. I dunno. But it still doesn’t make sense. Either someone wanted the Vision to beat us there, which is why we were sabotaged. Or they want us to win, and they destroyed Franklin’s ship to make sure of it.” He shrugged, looking at Evan. “But which is it?”

“My question is, what’s next? And when? If knocking out any competition was the goal, then aside from finding out who did this, we should be out of danger. But what if that wasn’t the motive?”

“You mean, what if someone out here just wants to kill for the sake of killing? That’s pretty extreme, considering whoever it was would be dead if he succeeded.”

Evan shrugged. “I don’t have answers. Not yet. I’m just trying to understand what’s happening and why and when it might happen again.”

Alex sat up and turned on the room display. “All I know is, we’ve got a route inside and a destination.” The nebula filled the room again in a soft, pastel fog Alex had come to find quite relaxing. “Just do me a favor,” he looked at Evan again, his face almost obliterated by the image of C-3. “Don’t let anything stop you from finding the truth. Not even me.”

Evan’s eyebrows creased momentarily. He shook his head once. “I wouldn’t.”

Alex suppressed a laugh. “I didn’t think you would.”

__________

Two days later, the Ascalon entered the Pendulum Nebula.

Alex watched from the bridge’s view port as the ship nosed into the thickness of charged gas. Evan stood beside him, staring at the magnificent display of color and exited electrons smashing into the hull, swirling around the ship as it penetrated the depths. The bridge was filled with excitement and nervousness as their scanners and sensors began to fail, bombarded by too much interference. From this point on, they’d be practically flying blind, with only the occasional glimpse of their surroundings. Even the probes would be a risky proposition, their information dependent on the nebula’s many moods.

Their route had been programmed in great detail, so the Ascalon could steer blindly toward their goal with complete assurance.

“I’m amazed at your map this time, Alex.” Jeff stood below them with the bridge crew, gazing up at the upper walkway. “How did you get this kind of detail?”

“A navigator never reveals his secrets.” Alex answered easily.

Jeff chuckled, walking closer to the railing. “But seriously, how did you get such detail from your probes? Those gasses keep changing. Anything could be lurking inside this thing.”

Alex found the questions irritating. “Trust me, Jeff.”

“Oh I do.” Jeff turned and looked at the static-filled screen again. “I do.”

The look Evan sent in Jeff’s direction was deadly, but Alex was sure only he noticed it. The Sha’erah had just returned from another sweep of the storage areas and hadn’t had a chance to show Alex his findings, but just before they stopped to watch the ship enter the nebula he’d clearly been anxious about something. “Why don’t you meet me in the office? We can go over your latest sweep of the storage bays.”

Evan nodded once, then left Alex standing on the walkway.

“He doesn’t like me much,” Jeff nodded toward the office’s closed door as he joined Alex above the bridge.

“Do you blame him?” Alex let his irritation show through in his voice. The man he’d once thought of as an older, wiser mentor had been acting like a jerk since they’d plucked him out of space.

“I suppose not, but it makes it hard for me to try to develop a better opinion of him.”

“Is that what you were trying to do?”

“Look, Alex, I can see you like the guy. The crew likes the guy. Hell, he’s probably a nice guy and I had no cause to distrust him from the start. But I’ve already explained my reactions. Even you had to agree I had reason to worry, the way you presented him to us and all.” Jeff’s voice had lowered into the reasoning tone he always used to quiet any concerns Alex had about any given topic. “He seems like a perfectly capable person, if not a little quiet.”

“He’s not much of a talker around strangers.”

“That’s an understatement.” Jeff shook his head, then glanced around the bridge to make sure no one was listening. “Alex, I’ve been thinking about some things.”

“Like?”

“Like, if I wanted to sign on here again. Is there a place for me on the Ascalon?”

The question wasn’t a surprise, but the fact that Jeff finally asked it did surprise Alex. He couldn’t answer right away, couldn’t get his voice to work right. Surely he realized Evan was here to stay? There was no way in hell Alex was selling the man, and after they staked their claim and sent the confirming transmission, the Ascalon was his as part of the contract. Could Jeff and Evan actually learn to work together in some form of harmony?

“Six months ago, I could have answered you.” Alex sighed, letting the breath out slowly as he gazed unseeing at the screen.

“But?”

Before he could reply, Jeff’s PDA beeped again, grabbing his attention. And something tugged at Alex’s doubts, demanding some respect of its own.

“Excuse me, I forgot about this.”

“About what?” Alex decided it was strange enough for Jeff to have appointments considering his current status.

“Nothing, really.” Jeff smiled, shoving the computer back into his pocket. “The other crew from the Vision, I forgot we’d planned a meeting to discuss whether or not they wanted to be dropped off with your miners. That’s all. I’ll let you know what they decide.” He walked purposefully away without stopping to listen to any objections or comments.

Alex shrugged and made his way to the office. Evan handed over the data reader as he entered.

“The moving stopped, but I found these yesterday. Two empty crates and no record of them having been loaded.”

“Empty?” Alex looked at the display of two large crates in the back of one large storage bay.

“I’ve done heat scans, and taken samples.” Evan pointed to a button on the unit and waited until Alex pressed it to see the test results. “It looks like someone, or something, was living in them for an undetermined amount of time.”

Alex blinked. “You mean, we have a stowaway?”

“Or several.” Evan shook his head with a frustrated sigh and paced around the office. “I should have known. Those storage bays are so huge, there could have been any number of crates with people inside. I didn’t even start a physical exam of anything down there until just a few months ago.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I was going by the documents and the unbroken seals. Everything was in order, but I should have looked past that.”

“Until we had trouble, there was no reason to.”

“This ship is so big, they could be anywhere. Anyone.” Evan paced back and forth in the small office, gesturing angrily.

“But we found the first saboteur on the Vision, there was no reason at the time to think we had someone onboard.”

“They could be using PDAs to communicate. Walking freely around this ship in the crowds. They could have found a way to send a command to the Vision’s probe. If it was a signal from a personal transmitter, I couldn’t have found it.”

“Evan . . .”

“I want to open every crate on board, examine it and compare the contents to the manifest. Every one of them. I should have done this sooner.”

“Evan.” Alex had to stand in the man’s way to get him to stop pacing and take notice. “If we have a stowaway, we’ll find him. Or them. Meanwhile,” he sighed and set the reader on the table, then started twisting his ring around his finger as he walked around the desk. “If I got you Jeff’s PDA, could you download everything he has?”

Evan stared at Alex, obviously trying to catch up. “Yes, I can. But how . . . ?”

“Even anything he might have tight security on?”

“Of course.” The tone of his voice suggested the foolishness in that question. “Anything he has.”

Alex nodded, staring at the silver ring as it sparkled with each turn. “Good.”

Evan stayed where he was for several minutes, watching Alex. Finally he sat down. “If our saboteur is going to make another move, it would make sense to wait until we’re in orbit.”

“I agree.” Alex continued to twist the ring, taking some comfort in the habitual motion. “Can you tell, from those personal units, who they’ve made contact with?”

“Depends.” Evan considered the question. “They all have history files, and even if they’re purged they leave a trail, but they don’t go back forever.”

“About how far do they go?”

“I can promise you I can retrieve a year, but after that I don’t know.”

Alex nodded. “A year should be more than enough.” He looked at the ring again, spinning it around and around with two fingers. In the back of his mind, things were starting to fall into place. He couldn’t really identify them, or even the place they seemed to be falling into, but the feeling was undeniable. “More than enough.”

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