Unum Chapter Thirteen

E Pluribus Unum
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content

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Year Eight - Year 8 Month 2 Week 3 Day 3 Hour 21 Minute 3 Second 57 - Earth Date: 08-02-03-03-21-3-57 - Chapter Thirteen

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Year Eight

Year 8 Month 2 Week 3 Day 3 Hour 21 Minute 3 Second 57

Earth Date: 08-02-03-03-21-3-57

Chapter Thirteen

Linda had been monitoring the situation between the Vandu and Bonghwang. The last transmitted log was that Vandu was in contact with Bonghwang and started to rendezvous with a soft landing on the asteroid. She had read the bios of each captain. Both spent multiple years in space, both former military, both highly respected in their respective circles. Park, however, had an aptitude for numbers. And astro-navigational computations. So far, no other person could match her ability, until now. She had to tell Gale.
Ted floated in and sat at the Nav station. “How goes the evening?”
“Pretty quiet. Good news is that Vandu rendezvoused with the Bonghwang. Captain Park reported several hours ago that repairs would take another week.” Linda checked the Ship-to-Command inbox. There were about a hundred new messages. Some were from various inbound or outbound crafts. One ship, the Wakanda, was enroute with a 5-billion-ton asteroid. The record was 120 billion. It was about 10-days out from transfer orbit.
“Good. Getting good news Is great.” Ted sighed.
“Something’s wrong.” Linda said.
“You say that like you know.”
“I listen to the scuttle, and –”
Ted interrupted, “—scuttle? You’ve been hanging out with the pilots?”
Linda smiled. “Of course, you’d be surprised.”
Ted leaned forward. “And, what is the most talked about scuttle.”
“We’re behind schedule by three-months.”
Figuratively, Ted nearly fell out of the seat. “That ‘s been a tightly held secret –”
“—the one you were going to tell me a minute ago?”
“Point. Okay, what else does the scuttle say?”
“There may be an Ab Uno on every hauler.”
Ted was silent for a moment. He let his thoughts drift. “We’ve had five ‘accidents’ this week alone. Three ships have been sabotaged, that includes the Bonghwang. The Governing Ring Independence Division is thinking of stepping up security. Some members are talking about extensive background checks and tagging everyone on this station with tracking implants.”
“That’s horrible!”
“Hauler crew will be tagged, and all haulers will send telemetry data 24/7.”
“I see,” was all Linda could muster.
Ted nodded. “It is that bad.” Then, “We have too many goddamn arrogant delusional males running too many countries. Almost every day is a cock fight.”
An alarm went off.
Linda typed in a command on her CRT. “Oh, my goddess! It’s B-deck’s water supply. Contamination.”
Ted, grim, nodded. “Maybe I’ll recommend the implants.”
Before Linda could respond Ted sped out. She sighed. Maybe tracking implants is a solution. The water supply poisoned. That was a step too far gone.

• • • 
      

Pasini rolled over. She was in Park’s bed. She considered her options carefully and decided to commit completely. A Space Captain’s life can be a very lonely one. You have choices that are almost always bad. Sleeping with crew compromises your authority, sleeping with your first mate or command staff has its own risks. Plenty of lubricate and towels are always the fallback.
Park rolled over. “How are you feeling, Tecla?”
Pasini nodded. “I’m feeling good.”

Two hours later

Park, Pasini, Kirk, Bliff, and Tenzin were assembled in the Front Deck. Park tapped in a command to communicate with the Vandu. Pasini gave her the code to talk directly to Engineering.
“Engineering, here.”
Pasini said, “Ga Ka?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Can you prepare a list of engine parts the Vandu badly needs?”
“Certainly, ma’am. Who gets it?”
Kirk spoke up. “Chief, this is Kirk, Chief Engineer to the Bonghwang. You can send it to the Bonghwang response inbox. We have some spare parts. Some parts we had to pull from our engines, but they’re still good.”
There was an audible ping from Kirk’s CRT. He looked at it and laughed. “Umm, Ga Ka, wow.”
Ga ka replied, “I know. Finance has been lean. We’ve just had a string of bad luck.”
Kirk scanned down to the bottom. “Wait, you got a cold infuser?”
“We do. I’d love to replace that first. As of now, the Vandu can safely red line at .95 for only a few hours.”
“My friend I got one for you. You’ll red line at over 1.05 easily.”
There was silence for a moment.
Pasini said, “Ga Ka, you there?”
“Yes, ma’am. I had to find a towel to wipe my eyes. Hold on, I have to compose myself.”
Everyone could tell he choked out the last words.
Kirk tapped something on his CRT. “MacDonald?”
“Yes, Boss?”
“I sent you a list of parts. Pack what we can spare and prepare it for the Vandu.”
“On it. Out.”

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