Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3 Read online

  Goddard comes back just then, hurrying as much as he can in between coughing fits. He kneels down in front of us, his own breathing labored. I help him fasten the oxygen mask onto Derek. It only takes a few breaths of oxygen to return the color to his face. I then have Goddard take a turn breathing in the oxygen.

  Derek clumsily sits up and looks over at me. Recognition flashes in his eyes and he flinches away. I scramble to my feet and grab the oxygen from Goddard. I’m careful not to look at Derek as I swallow the sudden hurt feelings down. I walk down the corridor to check on the other guards leaning against the wall by the bridge door. I hear Derek behind me getting to his feet and talking softly with Goddard, but I ignore them as I reach the guards.

  "Here, breath in some oxygen so your system can flush out the toxin faster." I help Taylor first and show the other two guards what to do. I then turn to stare at the metal bridge door. I'm grateful this ship is new enough to at least have atmospheric seals on the doors. That saved our lives. And these same seals will allow us to open the bridge to space and flush the toxin out.

  What kind of electrical fire could be this toxic? I knew from the smell in the maintenance shaft that it would be prudent to hold my breath when we opened the door. Which is also why I wasn’t as affected by the toxin. But then I also didn't get a decent smell of it either, so I'm not sure what kind of problem we're dealing with. It has to be located in the walls or one of the computer consoles because there was nothing immediately visible when the doors opened. I pull one of the curls from around my face and twist it around my finger, thinking. A habit I've had since I was little.

  My pulse quickens as I picture all the places an electrical fire could be hiding. We need to get that fire out immediately before it spreads through the walls. I leave the guards with the oxygen and hurry back down the corridor.

  "We need to evacuate the bridge atmosphere immediately, before it spreads." I step around Derek and keep walking toward the access ladder. Goddard catches up to me, and I can hear Derek slowly trailing us. I keep my gaze forward.

  I allow Goddard to lead the way since he knows where we're going. I'm trying to picture the schematics of the ship in my head, but I'm having trouble recalling them. My head is a little fuzzy. I guess I did breathe in a bit of the toxin.

  We climb down only a few floors this time before Goddard leads us into another corridor. This one has many locked doors at equal distances, but they're only labeled with numbers. Maybe crew quarters? I touch one of the bio-locks and a name and face of a crewmember glows in 3D. I was at least right about the doors, but why did Goddard bring us to a residential floor?

  We turn down another corridor that looks just the same as the last one, our footsteps echoing in the quiet. I start feeling anxious and slightly lost. I don't want to slow down to get my cube out, so I just keep following Goddard. None of this looks like the diagram I had pulled up.

  Finally he stops at a dead end. There's a small access hatch that's only a few feet in diameter. He opens the metal door to reveal a maintenance tube. Normally it looks like one person could fit through, but there are too many wires and blinking switches filling the space inside. Instead of trying to climb in, Goddard reaches his long arm up inside the tube and pushes a few of the switches. The red lights start strobing in sync.

  He looks at me. "That should do it. How long do you think it'll take to put out whatever is burning in there?"

  I'm impressed that Goddard knew exactly where to find these switches. "I'd say another minute should be good. Too long could damage the ship."

  He leans against the wall and we wait.

  I lean against the opposite wall, it’s surface cold. "So, how did you know about this switch, Goddard? This isn't exactly normal security knowledge. And this isn’t the area I showed you on the diagram where I thought this would be." A switch that opens a ship's bridge to open space would not be on our schematics, and definitely would not be taught in a normal engineering class. I probably would've eventually found this switch because of all the research I've done in the past on starships. But it would've taken me some time.

  Goddard blushes slightly and looks sideways at Derek. "I've been studying starship plans and taking tours with the engineers, in case there's a security opening aboard a ship." He nervously straightens his uniform. "Although I really enjoy my job on Delta. It's just that I've never been too far from the station and I would like to see the rest of the galaxy." He smiles weakly.

  A small nudge of excitement flutters in my belly. "That's actually quite amazing, Goddard. Hopefully you'll have that opportunity. I can understand wanting to see what else is out there."

  Goddard's shoulders relax. He smiles as he flips the switch again, and the lights return to their random blinking.

  Time to go see if it worked.

  5

  Earned Respect

  I turn around to head back to the bridge and run right into Derek. Absorbed in the conversation with Goddard I had forgotten Derek was there. "Oops. Sorry." I try to step around him, my cheeks warm.

  He grabs my arm gently, stopping me inches from his face. The redness is fading from his eyes and he's actually smiling. "Thank you for helping me." He suddenly seems to realize he's still holding my arm and lets me go, but doesn't move away. "How come you weren't as affected by the toxin?"

  I smile. I kind of like this nice version of Derek. I wonder how long it will last. "I held my breath when we opened the door."

  He nods, a serious look on his face. "Because of the smell in the access tunnel. I ignored your warning." I stare dumbly at his hunched shoulders as he walks back toward the access ladder.

  I look back at Goddard. He's grinning. Guess that's about as good of an apology as I'm going to get out of Derek.

  We climb back up the ladder and walk to the bridge in silence. I smile to myself when I notice that neither Goddard nor Derek make an effort to keep their distance from me in the narrow corridor. It's a small thing, but it makes me feel less of an outcast.

  We pass Taylor in the corridor as he heads down to the security ship. I'm relieved to see him doing much better. I stop in front of the other two guards who look like they’ve completely recovered. They smile and nod at me as I watch them for signs of toxicity.

  Goddard comes up behind me, and motions for them to open the door. They look nervously at me. Amused, I nod. "It should be safe now."

  One of them places his hand on the bio pad and enters the code. He then quickly steps back as the door whooshes open. I stifle a laugh. I shouldn't find humor at their actions. When you live in space the biggest fear is atmospheric breaches. But dark humor is what helps me deal with the kind of things I see in the morgue.

  I bite the side of my cheek to keep a straight face and push past them through the open door into the bridge. The air is cold, but it doesn't bother me. I've gotten used to spending time in cold conditions.

  Methodically I check for obvious causes for the toxic fumes. There aren't any burn marks or melted consoles that I can see. Of course not. That would be too easy. There’s a remnant of scent, but it’s too faint to find where it’s coming from. I then overlay my 3D diagram with what I'm seeing on the bridge, this time with the electrical and mechanical layers turned on. A ship's bridge must, to a certain degree, be independent from the rest of the ship for security and safety reasons. But there are several places where cables and ductwork have to connect with the ship in order to communicate. I check all these weak points. Several are fairly easy to get to, so I ignore those. I figure Delta's mechanics would've already checked those in their normal inspections.

  Derek and the others are huddled in the center of the bridge speculating about what the problem could be. I tune them out and slowly walk around the bridge in a circle. When I'm working a scene I concentrate on what all my senses tell me, and what I know so far. Also what questions I need to answer, and what my past training tells me. I don't have time to socialize. My brain is already working to figure out this mystery.
/>   I work my way to the far side of the bridge and stand in front of the environmental control system console. It’s still cold from being exposed to space. According to the diagram, there's a conduit underneath that snakes through the wall of the bridge and connects with the rest of the ship. Oxygen lines and wires are both threaded through this conduit and up into this console. A stray spark anywhere in the electrical system could've caused the fumes, but it's more likely that there was an oxygen source near the spark to react the way it did.

  I kneel down in front of the console and pull a few tools out of my pack and start taking off the lower panel covers.

  "What are you doing?"

  I'm startled and drop my tool. Glaring up at Derek, I growl, "Was that necessary?"

  "Seriously, what are you doing? We're only supposed to be familiarizing ourselves with the ship's systems, not taking the Valiant apart." He jabs a finger at the console.

  The guards are standing behind Derek looking at me. Mentally I roll my eyes and stand up. "The most likely place for an electrical fire this size is near oxygen." I smack my hand loudly on the metal console. "And this is the environmental control system, therefore it regulates the oxygen in here." My voice drips with sarcasm. I'm irritated that he's just standing around criticizing me.

  "Let the mechanics do that. It's their job." Derek imitates my sarcastic tone. So much for the nice Derek.

  I narrow my eyes at him. "I, for one, do not want to wait for them to fix it and then have to come back over here with you again in order to finish our homework at a later time." I bend down and pick up the tool and finish taking off the cover. "Do you really want to do this all over again? If I can find the problem, and be assured that we won't be in anymore danger, we can finish our homework and go back home."

  Derek raises an eyebrow. "You have a good point there." He taps his knuckles on the console. "How come you think you can find the problem when Delta's mechanics have crawled all over this ship and missed it?"

  The panel makes a loud metallic screech as I wrestle if off, and I get a whiff of burnt plastic. I turn slightly toward Derek. "Because they didn't have burning plastic to show them that there was a problem. We do. And now I know where the problem started. Can you smell it?"

  Behind Derek, Goddard has a serious expression on his face.

  Derek makes a big show of taking a sniff and immediately starts coughing.

  I smirk. So does Goddard behind Derek’s back. "Now we just need to trace it to the source so we can shut down whatever system is faulty."

  Derek covers his mouth. The security team and Goddard back up, leaving us on one side of the bridge. I refrain from rolling my eyes again.

  Taking shallow breaths, I turn back to the mess of wires and conduits. I compare what I'm seeing to the 3D diagram again. Toward the back of the console, I glimpse a wire nestled among the others that is melted in a small area. I reach back to feel with my fingers, and find another wire with a bald spot. The two wires must have arced against each other.

  Finding those specific wires on the diagram proves difficult, however. By the time I figure out where they came from, I have a headache from the small amount of residual toxin in the air.

  The sound of coughing makes me turn around and I find Derek standing alone behind me, his hand over his mouth.

  "Where are the others?"

  "Out in the corridor." Derek motions to the now-closed bridge door.

  Huh. I guess I was concentrating so hard I didn't even hear them leave.

  "You were more affected by the toxin than they were. Why didn't you go as well?"

  Derek shrugs. "I want to get my homework done." He looks over at the mess of wires underneath the console. "Did you figure it out?"

  "Yes, we need to turn off these systems." I point at the diagram projected from my cube.

  Derek steps closer to look. He pulls out his own cube and finds the page that I'm on. I'm kind of impressed he's taking this seriously. I assumed he would just give up and slack off on the homework. Anything to get away from the muerta.

  "I think I know where that is." He walks to the other side of the bridge, past where the computer consoles end, and opens a panel hidden in the wall.

  I follow and look over his shoulder. Derek glances back and forth between his diagram and the box in front of him. One by one, he pulls several tiny components out. "There. That should shut those systems down until the engineers can investigate further. There's still a backup oxygen system in here that’s separate, so we won't lose air."

  Just like with Goddard, I'm sure this wasn't a part of the education for security guards. "How did you know how to do that?"

  Derek leans against the wall and studies me. His hesitation tells me that he's having some sort of internal debate. He gazes down at the pieces of metal in his hand. "As you guessed earlier, security wasn't my first choice for an internship. I started with the electrical group on Delta for a while until my mentor left for Mars Colony."

  It was apparent to me in the security ship that he was fascinated with the consoles and how they worked. Now I know why. I wonder if the slight bitterness in his voice is because of his mentor leaving him to go to Mars Colony, or because I came from there.

  He surprises me by continuing. "The new electrical supervisor and I didn't really get along, so he asked to have me transferred out of his department." He looks up, emotions running deep behind his eyes. "Really the only internship left where I wouldn't be too far behind was in security."

  Before I can say anything, the door opens and Goddard steps back into the bridge. He spots us in the corner and quickly walks toward us taking shallow breaths.

  The moment broken, Derek gives me a tight smile. "Anyway, now we can finish our homework." He walks over and hands the components to Goddard. He quickly explains what we did and what still needs to be done. Then he sits down at the main view screen and pulls up our homework.

  In stunned silence, I watch Goddard walk back out, leaving Derek and me to work on our project. I feel like I've seen a whole other side of Derek today.

  I settle into the console next to Derek, pull up the homework on my cube, and grab my notebook. For the next couple of hours we work through questions and sample scenarios our professor has given us. We become very familiar with what each console on the bridge controls by the end of the assignment. I'm still surprised at the end when I find out that the electrical problem really wasn't something they created as a test for us. It was a real malfunction that Derek and I figured out together. I sit up straight as I think how much danger we really were in. I wonder how our engineers missed this? At the same time, it makes me feel warm inside that I was able to track down an actual malfunction aboard the Valiant using all the skills I've learned over the years. Maybe missing out on the Carina mission wasn’t a total loss.

  6

  Temporary Connection

  Eventually the engineers arrive from Delta and swarm the bridge to fix the problem that we uncovered. It's Derek's turn to roll his eyes as we listen to the engineers gripe about us causing more work for them. I hide my smile behind my tablet as I busy myself with my drawing of the bridge.

  We’re finally cleared to leave by a nurse who came over with the engineers. We walk back to the ship as a group; the engineers peppering Goddard, Derek, and me with questions. I smile as I talk with them, content to be treated as an equal among them. It all feels surreal, like I'll discover when we get back to Delta that it all never happened. A small knot starts in the pit of my stomach as we get settled into the security ship.

  The trip back to Delta is subdued. Derek and Taylor still have a slight cough, and we're all pretty wiped out from the long day. I work half-heartedly on a few sketches but mostly try to nap in the uncomfortable seat. My body is exhausted and stiff from sitting, but my mind won't shut off. I replay the day over and over again. I'm elated that I was able to track down the cause of the electrical fire, but I'm frustrated that the Valiant's former crew would neglect such important ship
maintenance. Since we weren't given much history of the Valiant, I imagine different scenarios that could've led to the ship being abandoned and turned into a living classroom.

  As Delta looms closer, I notice that we're heading toward the regular security dock, instead of the one they picked us up at. This dock is the largest of all three of the space docks and able to accommodate several of the large troop ships that move between the different colonies around the system. Right now, there are only a few medium and small security ships parked there.

  Derek looks over at me but doesn't say anything. I can't read his expression, and I'm not sure what to say to him anyway. I pack my tablet away, almost sad for the day to end.

  The ship attaches to the dock and we gather our stuff up to leave. I wave goodbye to Goddard, Taylor, and the other guards. It's an amazing feeling to be treated as a normal person here on Delta. I drag my feet, not wanting to leave. Once out in the main corridor I slowly head back toward the morgue.

  "Wait, Bren." Derek catches up to me. I'm so startled he's used my proper name that I trip over myself and drop my pack. Very graceful, Bren.

  I drop to the floor and gather the items that have fallen out. Derek bends down and helps me.

  "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you." He gives me a lopsided grin and I notice for the first time that he has a small dimple.

  I look down and zip up my pack. "Did you need something?" Although he's being nice, I'm still wary. The whole day still feels like a long dream.

  "I just wanted to tell you that you did a great job over there. And I was wondering if you had a previous electrical apprenticeship, too?" He smiles a crooked smile.

  Even making fun of himself, he's handsome.