Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 2

  He narrows his eyes, looking between Derek and me. "Just the two of you? They just cleared that relic not too long ago. Are you sure it’s safe?"

  Derek steps forward, his perfect white teeth gleaming. "Of course it's safe. The sergeant cleared it himself. Our team is waiting." He waves to the outer lock impatiently.

  I control my urge to bang my head against the nearest wall. Instead, I give the dock master a weak smile and take care not to look in Derek's direction. Mr. Daneel shakes his head as he punches a code into the control panel, allowing the double seals in front of us to part. It opens up into a small chamber, which Derek and I step into.

  As the chamber goes through its decontamination process, I stare at the wall and mentally recite the major systems that make up the Valiant to avoid talking to Derek.

  I chance a peek at Derek. He's too quiet, and that's not his norm. I find him staring at me, an amused expression on his face. I'm taller than most girls, which means I'm looking nearly straight into his dark eyes.

  I look quickly down.

  The next seal opens with a hiss and I practically run out of the chamber. I don't look back as I make my way to dock 2C. I know every dock's location and what types of ships can use each one. I have a lot of time to myself when I'm not in the morgue working.

  I slow my pace as I find 2C surrounded by a small security team dressed in dark maroon Delta uniforms. Derek soon joins us and starts up an animated conversation with the security team. Since he's a security apprentice he knows all of them.

  Of course. This day just gets better and better. I sigh and lean against the thick clear glass that separates us from the vacuum of space. I frown as I notice that the dock is empty. Our ship hasn't arrived yet. 2C is a medium size dock, so we could be expecting anything from a fast four-seat planet cruiser to a medium size reliable sixteen-person interplanetary transport.

  My breath catches as I see what comes toward us. I look at Derek who grins and winks at me. I roll my eyes and look back as the sleek security patrol ship glides up to our dock and latches on. There’s not even the slightest bump. I've never been on one of the new security ships, but I hear they have the latest Sol technology. It briefly crosses my mind as I mentally drool over the ship in front of me, that maybe I should’ve become a security apprentice. They seem to get all the new technology.

  "Ready for the ride of your life, muerta?"

  Well that killed that idea.

  I clench my hands and force myself not to respond. I wait until I hear the airlock open before I turn around. Derek shrugs and moves through the airlock with two of the guards. The other two hang back, supposedly waiting for me. I walk past them, noticing that neither one makes eye contact with me. I'm not sure if they're embarrassed for me because of Derek's comment or they don't like the idea of being near me because of my muerta status. I make sure to step as closely as I can, making them take involuntary steps backward, and grin to myself as I enter the security vessel.

  As soon as I step onto the patrol ship, I forget all about the guards, Derek's remark or pretty much anything else. Every surface gleams as if the ship was just rolled off the assembly line. It even smells brand new. All of the consoles have bio-interfaces and are color-coded, I imagine making it easier for any level of pilot to fly.

  But what truly takes my breath away are the walls and ceiling. Where gleaming metal should be all around us, we see everything outside our patrol ship. The effect makes the walls seem invisible, so that we see the dock, the other ships around us, and the stars beyond.

  In the tight space I turn to take in the whole view, only to find Derek right next to me.

  "Pretty cool, isn't it?"

  I close my mouth. My face is warm at being caught gawking.

  "Mira esto. Watch this." Derek reaches around me and presses a button. The walls and ceiling suddenly revert to a glittery beige metal surface.

  I take a step away from him, but run into the wall behind me, which is now no longer an expansive view of space, just the glass vid overlaying the ship's gray metal structure.

  "Careful muerta, there's nowhere to go in here." He waves his arm across the ship's cabin.

  His use of the hated nickname feels more personal and more hurtful in this small space. I turn to face him, gritting my teeth and squaring my shoulders.

  He freezes and lowers his arm. I know he's popular at school with the girls, but since he's always teased me unmercifully, I've rarely taken too close of a look. But now, I can see how good looking he really is. He has long eyelashes that emphasize his obsidian eyes as the cut of his dark hair frames his clean-shaven face. Model perfect.

  He takes advantage of my hesitation to take a step backward. His handsome smile turns into a sneer, and all thoughts of how perfect he is vanishes instantly from my mind.

  "Don't like being called muerta?"

  "No, I don't." My emotions, already strung tight, snap. "How do you feel about being a secondary apprentice instead of a full apprentice like the rest of us in our class? I might be working with dead people but at least I have a career path. You're just extra muscle for the real security guards."

  His sneer fades and his eyes turn cold. "This is my career." He juts his chin toward the other guards.

  I shake my head. "No, at graduation you'll move up to serve as an apprentice for another year while the rest of us start getting paid for our jobs on Delta." I place my hands on my hips and mentally brace myself for Derek's retort. I'm usually pretty good at ignoring his biting remarks, but he's pressed my buttons one too many times.

  His lips press together into a thin line as he looks between me and the guards behind him. The guards are deliberately ignoring us. Stiffly, he turns and sits down. His neck and face are turning a dark shade of pink as he stares straight ahead without saying a word.

  I’m left standing with anger boiling inside. I stomp across the room and buckle into a chair as far away from Derek as I can get, and take out my tablet. I scribble furiously, trying to ease the desire to throttle him.

  "Here we go," calls out one of the maroon-outfitted men at the ship's console. There's humor in his voice. "Everyone needs to be buckled in for departure."

  I feel a slight movement as we disconnect from the dock. They turn the vids back on allowing the hull to show the view of the outside again. My emotions relax as we slip past several docked starships swarming with space-suited mechanics. I smile as I watch the space station slip away from view.

  3

  The Valiant

  I can feel Derek's anger radiating from across the ship. I know I shouldn't have taken his bait and reacted so angrily. But until today I've only been called muerta within the confines of school. Others on the station have never said it to my face, although they're always careful not to get too close to me.

  Derek is hunched over, his harness straining against his muscular chest, as he watches the guards work the controls. It strikes me as I watch his face soften in concentration that maybe security wasn't Derek's first choice. I know that he lost both his parents in an accident, so he didn't have a family member to sponsor his apprenticeship once he came to Delta. He was probably given the only available job at the time.

  This thought deflates the rest of the anger I had built up toward him.

  "Approaching the Valiant," says one of the guards. We all look up to watch as the Valiant's form gets larger in the view screens that wrap around the room. It sits dark with no lights or signs of life. At the angle of our approach it looks like it's floating upside down, a cold, dead hulk.

  I grin and thumb through the files on my tablet to find my sketch of the Valiant I did earlier. I look back and forth to see where I might have erred in my drawing. It's a popular long distance science cruiser design, and my sketch is fairly accurate.

  "Are you actually drawing?"

  My peaceful moment shattered, I look up to find the smug look back on Derek's face. My fingers tighten around my tablet.

  I decide not to take the bait this ti
me. I don't want to risk another verbal explosion.

  Unzipping my pack, I place my tablet back inside and take out my holo cube. I activate it so that it projects a 3D image of a book in front of me. I flip through the pages until I find the homework for this trip to the Valiant.

  "Now you're not even going to talk?"

  I hesitate long enough to weigh my words. "If I could get away with that I would. But it seems that Mr. Thomas wants us to get this project done together."

  Derek gives me a hard look then turns his attention back to the view outside.

  The Valiant seems to disappear as we get close underneath it. All we see is the gray metal of the hull surrounding us. I unhook my harness and stand up so I can get a good look. Even up close the ship is an amazing example of engineering.

  I notice several large evenly-spaced slices in the hull. They look like they could be from a collision with another ship. If asteroids made them, the cuts in the skin of the ship would be irregular. There aren't any burn marks on the metal, so it most likely wasn't any type of energy weapon.

  As we continue forward I don't notice any other damage to the ship. I mentally file that information away for later. In my forensic classes on Mars we learned to read the room — that it is the area around the crime scene that can tell you the most about what has happened. In this case the entire ship would be the crime scene. Unfortunately, our homework isn't as exciting as all that. We're just here to familiarize ourselves with the systems of the Valiant.

  Our ship softly latches on to one of the docking ports. Derek unharnesses and watches as the two ships meet.

  I watch the guard at the main console in front of me. His fingers fly over the computer console. He looks familiar to me, but I can't remember his name. Dad and I work closely with security, but I'm usually in the morgue with the bodies while Dad is out working the scene. Last month however, Dad allowed me to go out with him on several body retrievals to show me to how the two departments work together. I have to admit that I really enjoyed it, especially since I could use my forensics training in the field. I just need to work on my awkwardness around live people.

  As if sensing me staring at him, the guard looks up.

  "Sorry, I was just trying to remember your name." Heat flames up my cheeks.

  He flicks his eyes quickly to his companion in the seat next to him before answering. "Goddard." He releases his harness and stands up. "I saw you at the airlock breach last week."

  "Right. Mr. Goddard. Sorry. I'm really bad with names. Good with scientific names, data, formulas, anatomy. Just not good with people's names." I bite my lip and step backward. I suck at this.

  "Goddard, is it safe to enter the Valiant now?" Derek steps toward the hatch, unwittingly saving me from further embarrassment.

  Goddard nods and presses a few buttons to open the seal. Derek exits and I follow with the guards close behind. I frown and wonder again why we need so much security for a school project.

  We get through the Valiant's airlock without incident, so there's definitely some power left on the ship. The air is a bit cold and smells stale as we walk down the corridor. It’s very quiet without all the ship’s systems running.

  The lifts don't work so we head toward the maintenance access ladders.

  I can hear one of the guard's labored breathing behind me as he keeps up with the fast pace Derek and the others have set. I wonder if he's nervous or maybe just used to a different level of gravity. I look back at him, surprised to find that he’s quite far behind us; he looks pale.

  I catch up to Goddard. "Is that other guard all right, Goddard? He seems to be having trouble keeping up with us."

  Goddard spares a glance backward without missing a step. "That's Taylor. He's just arrived from one of the mining colonies." Goddard grins. "He's still getting used to regular gravity."

  "That makes sense then." I frown. "Is that why there are so many guards? Because he’s in training?"

  The corridor curves, and we slow our pace to allow Taylor to catch up.

  Goddard leans close to me, slightly surprising me by his willing proximity. "That and because we all wanted the first ride in the new patrol ship." He winks at me and then catches up to the guards in the lead.

  I smile to myself. Of course they did.

  They open the hatch to reveal an access ladder. After checking it out, we get the signal to follow. No one speaks as we climb hand over hand up the metal rungs. The narrow space smells of body odor and another scent that vaguely reminds me of the smell right before the Mars excavators would overheat. I wrinkle my nose. It's faint, but still there.

  We climb until our security escort finally exits out onto corridor Level 17. My hands and legs are sore and I stretch while we wait for the others to make it up the ladder. Poor Taylor is sweating with the exertion as we continue.

  I hurry forward and match pace with Derek.

  I take a deep breath before I speak, sure I'll get another flippant answer. "Did you notice the smell of burnt plastic in the access tunnel?"

  Derek keeps his eyes on Goddard, who is only a few paces ahead. "This ship has been closed up for several weeks, and it’s very old." Derek points disdainfully around the corridor. There are smudges and dings down both sides of the walls, and the lighting is flickering. "Probably everything on this ship has caught on fire at some time."

  The ship does seem to be in bad shape. Which possibly could explain the smell, but I'm not convinced.

  I'm about to express my thoughts about that, when Derek holds up a hand. "You certainly ask a lot of questions." He practically growls at me.

  I fall back so I'm not tempted to give an icy retort.

  I'd been raised to ask a lot of questions. Mom enrolled me in as many science and medical investigation classes as I could take. I love being able to use all the different sciences like biology, anatomy, psychology, anthropology, and even physics to figure out what's going on with a crime scene.

  I almost run right into Derek, I’m so into my thoughts. He and the other guards have stopped at an airlock. It's twice the size of any of the others and looks newer as well. It has an upgraded bio scanner and a small monitor set into the wall next to it that shows a live vid of what's on the other side of the door.

  I try to move around Derek to look at the vid, but he won't step aside for me, so I only get a small glimpse of the image over his shoulder. I recognize the Valiant's bridge immediately and smile. We're finally here.

  Goddard places his hand on the bio scanner just as the lights flicker above us.

  My heart skips a beat, but before I can say anything, the doors slide back into the wall.

  We're immediately overcome by an acrid chemical smell. Someone in our group yells and Derek steps backward into me. We fall back as the guards frantically work to get the doors to close.

  4

  Electrical Fire

  Goddard makes sure the door is sealed back up before collapsing against the wall. For a few minutes, the six of us can only cough and wipe the tears running from our eyes. I was barely affected, since they wouldn’t let me near the door, so I check each of the others. Taylor is having trouble breathing, so I help him sit down.

  In a raspy voice, Goddard says, "She was right. She noticed something wrong earlier in the access tunnel." He looks over at me in between coughing fits.

  I shrug. "I've been trained to rely on all my senses." I gesture at the door. "I'm assuming the bridge wasn't like this when the other students were brought up here? This isn't part of our test?"

  Goddard shakes his head. "No, definitely not. We've had several other groups up here in the last few weeks, and there's never been anything like this." He looks at the other guards for confirmation. "We've had random power outages at times, but our station engineers just come over and fix whatever system is failing." The others agree.

  I use my cube to flip through the diagram of the Valiant. When I find what I’m looking for, I expand a portion of the image and kneel down to show Goddard
a location on one of the diagrams. "Can you take us there? I think we can manually evacuate the air out of the bridge from that power junction."

  "What? Why on Saturn's moons would you want to do that?"

  I look at him and grit my teeth. "Getting the air out of the bridge will not only remove the poisonous air but also put out whatever electrical fire is going on in there. Fire needs oxygen, does it not?"

  Goddard holds up his hand as he recovers from a coughing fit. "Ah. I see where you're going with that." He turns to the other guards, who are in varying states of recovery. "Two of you stay here at the bridge door, and Taylor, you head back down to our ship to get a message to those blasted engineers to get over here right away. Apparently they missed something."

  I return my cube to my pack and look over to find Derek's dark eyes red and puffy and his breathing ragged. He and Taylor are also pale and sweating profusely.

  "Goddard, we really need to get them some oxygen first. They're in pretty bad shape."

  Goddard looks from Taylor sprawled on the ground to Derek teetering next to me. "There's an emergency oxygen canister just down by the lift. I'll go get it. Sit him down before he falls." Goddard frowns as he watches Derek start to slide down the wall.

  I stand and grab Derek's arm and ease him to the ground. I hear Goddard's boots thud on the hard floor as he hurries away.

  "Derek, try to take long, deep breaths. Your body needs to get the poison out of your bloodstream." He stares up at me with wide eyes and tries to slow his breathing. He's slumping to the side so I sit down next to him on the floor and old him upright, using my shoulder for support.

  His breathing gets more erratic, and he leans further onto me. "Come on Derek, concentrate on breathing. Once we have the oxygen, it'll cycle through your body pretty quickly. Goddard will be back soon." I need to keep him awake, but I'm terrible at small talk. Dead people don't care what you say to them. I feel awkward sitting in the corridor next to Derek. Not too long ago I was verbally unloading on him after he called me muerta in front of everyone on the patrol ship. How did I get myself into this predicament?