Image: NASA
Chapter 11
By the time Jonah and Jacob had chased the Lt. Commander to the Command deck, all the other Starfisher personnel were there except for the Chief Engineer.
“Jonah and Jacob I did not call for you but you are welcome,” began Captain Ellis. “It seems that we have a mutiny underway.” The men tensed. “The station personnel have blockaded aeroponics and seem to have taken the chief engineer as hostage. The Chief has called me and let me know the demands. It seems the station personnel want us to take them immediately back to Neptune and from there the Starfisher is to be refitted, to carry them to Mars. They have embargoed our food supply. We, the Starfisher personnel and settlers, have enough food for three days. At that time we will need replenishment from the stores or aeroponics. I've called this meeting for an open discussion as to what our course of action should be.”
“We should take them out,” said the Lt. Commander. “This is mutiny and should not be allowed to stand!”
“Okay Lt. Commander,” said the Captain. “We have your vote. Anyone else?”
“Let me talk to them,” said Jonah. “Maybe I can reason with them. Get them to release the Chief and open up aeroponics.”
“Anyone else?” asked the Captain.
After a moment he said, “Lt. Commander I think I will have to go with Jonah's suggestion.”
“But Captain,” began the Lt. Commander.
“Please Lieutenant Commander,” said Captain Ellis holding up his hand.
“Jonah use your Annie to stay in touch and try to keep me updated on the hour. Thank you, that is all.”
Jonah, Jacob and the bot Ahab, by order of the Captain, were on their way to aeroponics when Jonah felt the lurch. It wasn't severe but it was noticeable.
Ahab spoke, “Your attention, please, I believe we have a malfunction with the ship. Perhaps we should turn back.”
In the zero-gravity of the ship's spine, Jonah found himself constantly pushing away from the corridor wall. Something was changing the heading of the Starfisher, there wasn't any doubt.
“Don't worry Ahab, I'm sure it is safe to continue,” said Jonah.
They continued down to aeroponics stopping at the hatch, now sealed from the inside. Jonah used the intercom.
“Hello aeroponics,” he said. “This is Jonah and Jacob Jackson. We are here to discuss terms with you; Captain Ellis has sent us.”
There was quiet for a few minutes. Jonah was just about to call again when he heard the hatch opening. One of the station men, with a weapon in his hand, motioned them inside and closed the hatch immediately.
“What's up with the bot?” he said.
“The Captain asked us to bring him as his personal representative,” said Jacob.
“Huh, this way.”
Aeroponics was not completely without gravity. It was found that the plants did better when there was a gravitational orientation and the water to the plants was much easier to manage. But the gravity generated by the slowly spinning segment was very small and even here Jonah thought he could feel the inertial force of the turning ship.
“Do you feel something odd about the ship's orientation?” he asked the station man. The man did not answer but motioned him to follow.
Aeroponics was, in a way, Jonah's favorite part of the ship. Though deep in the bowels of the spinning wheel the brightly lit green plants were very welcoming. His mood always lifted when he saw the plants growing. But now he saw a section bereft of green and was immediately disturbed.
“What happened here?” asked Jonah. The station man looked but didn't answer.
Finally, they arrived at aeroponic control where the rest of the men along with the chief engineer were assembled.
“Welcome Jonah,” said Jack Loring. “You too Jacob. I guess you've come to discuss the situation? But why did you bring him?” Loring was pointing towards Ahab.
“Ahab is here at the request of the Captain, and yes Jack, we are here to discuss the situation,” said Jonah. “I've been sent by the Captain to see if we can't work something out. Get the Starfisher back on track.”
“Well it doesn't matter,” said Loring gesturing towards Ahab. “We will soon be in control of even him.”
Turning to Jonah he said, “Jonah I would love to accommodate you, more than any man I know, but you are a little too late. We have already decided the future of the Starfisher and I'm afraid your expedition to Tharsis. We've decided that the Starfisher needs to return to Pluto Station. And once there we are determined to settle with the station leadership.”
“But you told the Captain you wanted to be taken back to Neptune and what do you mean 'settle'?”
“A little bit of misdirection Jonah to keep the Captain off guard. And as far as settle, the Terran Federation owes us Jonah, they owe us a lot. We plan on collecting. Control of the station will do for now. If it is not turned over to us we will use the Starfisher to take it.”
“How will the Starfisher take the station? The ship has no weapons but is basically a transport.”
“Jonah, weapons are in the eye of the beholder. The Starfisher has some fine weapons that can be used against a target such as Pluto Station with good effect. When a man needs a weapon he starts with his hands and we have more than enough of them.”
“But the Starfisher, Captain Ellis will not allow this.”
“The Captain will have no choice. Perhaps you noticed the slight difficulty in maintaining your forward motion as you made your way to aeroponics?”
Jonah nodded.
“That was an after effect of our gaining control of guidance. We are turning the ship slowly and placing it on a heading back to the station. Of course the bridge is doing all they can to block our efforts but we are getting better at it all the time. We already control all communications off ship.”
“But what do you hope to accomplish by attacking the station? Why go back there, you could be back at Neptune and finished with the Federation.”
“We, me and the other men here, have unfinished business at the station. If we go back home the Commander of the station gets a pass. The Federation will blame it all on the Lt. Commander here on board the Starfisher for failing to keep us under control. That is how Commander Bogdonich has avoided the blame so far. We intend to show the Terran Federation that he, and he alone, is to blame for the failure of this mission as well as their precious station.”
“While seeking revenge dig two graves,” said Ahab as the men turned to look at him. “So someone said,” the bot added.
“Ahab's right,” said Jonah. “Revenge is a tricky thing to get right. It rarely ends up the way you expect. I would urge you to reconsider Jack. I can assure you that if you will trust me you will have justice. If I fail then you can take your revenge. Let me contact the Captain, he requested that I call in on the hour and it's almost twice that since Jacob and I started down here.”
“Jonah you are asking a lot,” said Loring.
There was a shout from the hatch area. Then silence.
Chapter 12
The station men started running towards the sound. Jonah noticed they had drawn weapons from their work clothes, he wasn't sure where they could have gotten them. Loring motioned for Jonah and Jacob to sit next to the Chief Engineer.
“Well Jonah looks like the Captain has made a decision. Your services are no longer needed, if they ever were,” said Loring.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the Captain used you as a decoy to distract us while he set up his little surprise party. I don't blame you Jonah, although I wouldn't have believed you were that gullible.”
Jonah said nothing as more shouts were heard. A modern fight with handguns was nothing like in the past. The guns were almost silent. The projectiles were intelligent enough to guide themselves once a target was marked. They were also intelligent enough not to breach the hull of ships but only human targets unless programmed otherwise. So the only way that Jonah could judge the disposition of the battle was when someone shouted.
Out of the dark came a projectile unseen and unheard. The captain's recorder bot Ahab rocked backward as metal shredded and flew. Jacob upon reaching the bot declared he was off-line, probably permanently.
Jonah knew that one of the station men had to have programmed his weapon to take out the bot.
Another of the station men returned to inform Loring that they were under attack by the ship's crew. A station man had been injured but the others were able to hold off the attackers.
Loring said, “Okay Sam, what I want you to do is get Glassen and work on the power shutdown scenario we've discussed, the rest of the men can hold out until the Captain realizes his mistake and calls off this idiot attack.”
The man ran to get Glassen.
Loring turned to Jonah, “Jonah what has happened is that the Captain is a hundred years behind in his thinking. Maybe you can use sidearms if you have overwhelming control of your environment but if you don't, maybe you shouldn't force your enemies hand.”
“What are you going to do Jack?”
“We are going to wrest control of the Starfisher from the Captain from down here. Command will be superfluous once we are finished and the Captain will either surrender or die.”
The Starfisher groaned, there was a definite turning motion, now more noticeable. The men returned from the hatch area.
“We left Sid and Darby at the door,” said one of the men. “We have placed the station bots in front of the hatch as obstacles, the captain and his men will have to deal with the bots as we are shooting at them. Joe has been wounded.”
The wounded man looked pale, two station men were laying him on the deck.
Jacob said, “Get me the medic kit and let me treat him.”
“Yes Jack,” said Jonah. “Jacob has training.”
While Jacob was treating the injured man Jonah and Loring talked.
“It won't be long,” said Loring. “Power and life support are being turned off to all decks but aeroponics. Jonah I need you to go out the other hatch and get your people and bring them here. Captain Ellis hasn't enough men to cover both hatches. Once you and the other colonists are here Captain Ellis and his crew will either surrender and seek shelter here or die.”
Jonah didn't answer he was on his way to the other settlers.
“Quick,” said Jonah upon seeing his wife. “Grab our emergency kit and help me round up the rest of the colonists.”
“What's wrong Jonah?”
“You hear that?”
“No, I don't hear anything.”
“That's the problem, life support has stopped. You don't hear anything because the fans are dead. Power to lights and other systems will be next. We need to be on our way to aeroponics by then. I'll explain the rest later.”
Jonah rushed away to tell the others, his wife sought out their emergency kit and met him in the hall where the rest of the settlers had gathered. They started the trek to aeroponics.
Jonah and the others had been in aeroponics for several hours. They were making themselves comfortable and gathering a meal when shouts came from the hatch area.
Shortly the Captain and the rest of his crew walked in. They had their spacesuits on with helmets under their arms.
The Captain addressed Loring, “Loring what you have done is equivalent to mutiny. You know that don't you? And I see,” as he pointed toward Ahab, “you have also destroyed Solar Federation property.”
“Whatever you say Captain,” said Loring. “But a man has to recognize authority before he can mutiny against it doesn't he? And me and the rest of the station men do not recognize such authority. However, we welcome you as our guests provided you have turned over all your arms.”
“We have surrendered to your men all our arms I assure you of that Loring.”
“Very well make yourselves comfortable. I believe the settlers are preparing a meal. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sharing with you and your men,” said Loring as he turned away to talk to the man that had unarmed the Captain and crew.
“Jonah,” said Captain Ellis as they were eating their meal together, “do you know his end game?”
“Loring and the rest of the men expect to take over Pluto Station.”
“You're joking. And how do they expect to do that with the few weapons they have?”
“It's true they only have a few sidearms but they have something else as you found out yourself. They know how the technology works. I expect they plan to take over the station the same way they took over the Starfisher.”
"I don't believe it."
"That's as may be Captain but that is their plan. Now if I may ask you a question?"
"Yes?"
"Everything that has happened so far on this mission points to collusion between the Terran Federation and one or more of you men. You care to tell me which ones?"
The Captain looked at Jonah a moment, he was just about to protest but thought better of it.
"All of us Jonah."
Chapter 13
Station Commander Bogdonich called the meeting to order. He called on Lieutenant Vasilikov to present his results.
Vasilikov began, “Commander we have run a full diagnostics in communications. The hull bots report no physical problems with the antenna. There doesn't appear to be any malfunction here at the station. We believe that the problem must lie with the Starfisher.”
Bogdonich spoke up, “Okay Lieutenant. Then it is apparent that we will not find out the Starfisher's status through communications. I need suggestions on how to determine that status as soon as possible.”
There was quiet. Vasilikov said, “Commander I don't believe we have any way of determining the status of the Starfisher at the probable distance they have traveled from the station.”
“So none of you has any ideas?” asked Bogdonich. After almost a minute of silence in which the Commander piercingly surveyed each man in the room.
These officers are supposed to be the best the Terran Federation has to offer, thought the Commander.
Bogdonich finally said, “It seems we haven't had any ideas since the station men left on the Starfisher.” After letting that sink in he said, “All of you are dismissed!”
Vasilikov approached him but before he could speak the Commander turned away and said, “All of you get out now!”
The Starfisher was only a week out from Pluto Station when Loring called for Jonah to come to him.
“Come in Jonah,” said Loring. “Have a seat.”
“Hello Jack. How are you?”
“I'm fine Jonah, thank you. I wanted to discuss something with you that I have been thinking about since you and I first talked on the station. Actually I've been feeling guilty for not telling you.”
“What is it Jack?”
“You know Jonah that I and the rest of the men respect you a great deal. You are the only person since we signed up for Pluto Station that has treated us like human beings and not just station machinery. That is why I think you should know about the plans the Terran Federation and some in the Solar Federation have for this mission.”
“Plans?”
“Yes Jonah. You see these people wanted to take Tharsis away from you. They had plans for the Lt. Commander and us station men along with the Starfisher crew to establish a base of operations on Tharsis. You and the other settlers were to be forced to return to Neptune on the Starfisher. The Terran Federation would claim that the conditions found on Tharsis made it unsuitable for settlers, especially women and children. Some in the Solar Federation might protest but would be expected to eventually acquiesce. I'm sorry Jonah.”
“I see, is that why you and the other men took over the Starfisher?”
“I'll admit it is one of the reasons Jonah. No doubt our grievances with The Terran Federation had something to do with it too. But the treachery exhibited towards you and the other settlers may have been the catalyst, the last straw for most of the men and certainly for me.”
“Thank you Jack for telling me. But I have to say that even though some in both Federations have been insincere in their dealings with us and with you, I wish you and the men would turn over the Starfisher to Captain Ellis. You are throwing away your future, you will be outlawed by all the worlds. You will be running from the authorities for the rest of your lives. It isn't any way to live Jack.”
“I appreciate your concern Jonah but here's my reply. By not providing adequate sustenance the Terran Federation broke its contract with me and the men, showing no concern for our physical welfare. They showed their contempt for our public reputation by involving us in this ridiculous plot to take Tharsis from you. They are totally and completely without any sense of propriety. We will stand up to them now by refusing to cooperate with their schemes. Their arrogance will eventually be clear for all to see, and others will join us in our resistance.”
“That is probably true Jack. But that may take some time.”
“We can wait Jonah, we only hope it will occur in our lifetimes.”
Jonah continued to talk with Jack during the entire flight back to Pluto Station. Both trying to convince the other to compromise.
Commander Bogdonich had ordered an around the clock long-range monitoring for spacecraft from the last known heading of the Starfisher. He expected that if the ship had turned back, its trajectory inbound would be much the same as that outbound. But that meant that the monitoring only included a small patch of space in that direction. Any maneuvering that took the Starfisher outside that patch essentially made it invisible to the station's long-range monitoring and that is what Jack Loring had ordered.
The Starfisher would not be noticeable by the station until it was upon it. At any rate, close enough for the station men aboard the Starfisher to implement their plan to defeat the station's defenses before they were ever brought to bear on the ship.
Bogdonich had just retired to his quarters when the alarms went off. He reached for the comm-link and called the on-duty officer. Before the duty officer could respond the link went dead. The Commander was irritated. Then the lights went out, the quiet hum of the circulation fans stopped next. Now the Commander was starting to seethe. But when the alarm stopped with an uncharacteristic failing moan the Commander was surprised. Such a massive failure of systems was impossible. He used his Annie as a flashlight and headed for the command deck.
It took Commander Bogdonich much longer than he expected to get to command. Station bots immobile and in the way, none of the automatic doors, none of the ladder tows, nothing working. The darkness was difficult to penetrate in places. On the command deck, Bogdonich found his crew reduced to bumping about under the soft glow of emergency lamps.
The duty officer immediately upon seeing Bogdonich began a status report.
“Sir,” he said. “We have a massive failure mode. Every system on the station is down as far as we can tell. The engineers are stumped. We have only a single channel of off-station communications available. And that is only powered by the lowest level power source. Not more than docking distance is achievable.”
Commander Bogdonich stuttered, “It doesn't ma-make sense. How, how can we have an external radio link working but nothing within the station? I couldn't even call up here on the comm-link. I won't sit here deaf, dumb and blind mister. You, you tell the engineers I want power back now!”
“Yes Commander,” said the duty officer as he rushed off towards engineering.
The Commander stood there fuming but beginning to fear the magnitude of the emergency he was facing. His mind was racing but racing in circles. He felt like rushing to engineering. He felt like crawling back into his bunk in his darkened quarters. Just then the radio crackled and the voice of Jack Loring was heard.
“Pluto Station this is Jack Loring aboard the Starfisher. Let me speak with Commander Bogdonich.”
Bogdonich was stunned. He didn't move immediately to the communications station. The communications officer motioned to the Commander to take the mic.
“Pluto Station can you read me?”
“Just a moment Mr. Loring,” said the communications officer, “the Commander is on his way.”
Finally, the Commander moved to the comm station and took the mic. “Th-This is Commander Bogdonich,” he said.
“Commander, I have complete control of your station. I am going to prove this to you by having the lighting on the command deck restored at this time.”
The lights came on, Bogdonich shielded his eyes.
“Commander, are your lights now on?”
“Yes Loring,” replied Bogdonich reluctantly.
“Okay Commander, I think you now know what we could do to you and the men on the station if we wished. But I've been talking to Jonah Jackson, and he has persuaded me that to continue on this course is not the best thing for me and the rest of the station men aboard Starfisher. Instead of making you pay for your past transgressions against us we are going to move on with our lives. Jonah has convinced us that revenge against you would not serve our best interests.
“So, after dropping off the Lt. Commander and Captain Ellis and his men and picking up the other station men that hired in with us, we plan on taking Jonah and the other settlers to Tharsis. Then me and the rest of the men will take the Starfisher to wherever we wish. The Starfisher is payment for the remainder of our contract. The Solar Federation and the Terran Federation can work it out, we don't care. Captain Ellis and his men will transfer to the station soon. We will restore the station's normal operation when we have removed the Starfisher to a safe distance. That is all Commander.”
“Wait!” cried Commander Bogdonich into the mic. “Yo-you can't do that, Tharsis belongs to the Federation, I, I mean...” He stopped, realizing his mistake. He keyed the mic then released it, then sat down. The Commander looked around the deck as if he were searching for someone he might know. Then he put his head in his hands.
“You heard that, Jonah! The fool gave it away. I told you the whole mission was a front to further the aims of the Federation.”
“I heard,” said Jonah walking towards Loring. “And we must be careful not to repeat their arrogance. I urge you to join me in a declaration of our right to proceed as we planned. I also would urge you and all the other men to reconsider the confiscation of the Starfisher, though you certainly have reason.
“We could use you men to help establish the settlement at Tharsis. Once settled I think you'll find the future of operations there to be very profitable. No one but the settlers and the leaders of the Solar Federation know this, but the station we are establishing is just a first in a series of stations to provide engineering support for the Star-Way. Do you know what that is Jack?”
Loring looked startled. He said, “Yeah, I've heard of it. A laser-driven highway to the stars.”
“That's right. The Star-Way that has been a dream for so long is about to become a reality. Just think, sailing ships propelled by light rays between the stars. Eventually a whole network of Star-Ways taking mankind interstellar. Let the Terran Federation have one small solar system if they so desire, we will have the stars.
“This is the beginning Jack and you and the rest of the men could be a part of that beginning. And if you join us, you will be entitled to the same consideration as the rest of the settlers. You will be treated the same under the law which you will assist in defining and rendering. You will have full citizenship of Tharsis settlement.
“If you choose, we can send the Starfisher back to Pluto Station on automatic after we're established at Tharsis and the Solar Federation can retrieve it at its convenience.”
"But what about the traitors in your own Federation?"
"They'll be rooted out once I send in my report. Join us, Jack."
“You've given me and the men something to think about Jonah. Let's get the Starfisher on her way to Tharsis first and then the men and I will give you, our answer.”
Jonah smiled.
AFTERWORD
This story only mentions the Star Way, the next novella, The Cloud, and the following short novel, First Interstellar, cover it more completely.
END
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