The Journey Here
Posted on Thu Jun 3rd, 2021 @ 7:32am by Lieutenant JG Robert Zažeckis
1,199 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: USS Meridian
Timeline: 2394
A PADD on the corner of a neatly cleared desk in a neatly appointed office chimed insistently. Zaz glanced up at the Petty Officer sitting patiently across the desk from him before reaching out to kill the alarm. “Sorry, Kov. I’ll give you the desk in just a minute. I want to sign off on Alpha shift’s reports before I head out.”
“You know I can handle that, Chief? Seemed like a quiet shift. And that’s meant to be part of the job. Going over the last shift’s reports.”
"Still is." Zaz nodded. "But as short-staffed as we are, I don't want to leave anything to chance. Like this note from Ops." He held up a PADD with a message displayed. "It doesn't look like anyone made it to check out some sensors they say keep tripping but checked out fine. Deck 7 Astrometrics Calibration Lab."
"I'll make sure a patrol during beta shift visits."
Zaz ran a hand over the stubble of close-cropped grey hair on his scalp then stood and stretched. "Nah, I'll stop by on my way to the gym. Give it a quick look and seal it off for the science wonks to deal with properly."
"As you wish, Chief." The young crewman stepped in behind the Security desk as Zaz stepped out. He began the process of signing in for his shift. "Have a pleasant evening."
"And a quiet one to you."
The walk through Meridian's main corridors wasn't quiet. Shift change always brought the bustle. Haggard crewmen off a long shift. Young officers headed for a dinner date. A few stragglers late for shifts or headed toward their evening's assignment. None of it was a concern for the ship's Security Chief though. Just business as usual.
The side corridor on deck 7 that led past the Astrometrics lab, however, was quiet. Away from any high traffic spots and, if he remembered right, the room he was headed for wasn't much used. Just a small, dark space with a specially treated viewpoint that could be emptied to vacuum for some sort of special optical instruments.
When he reached the door though, the entry control showed the room had been accessed 5 times in the last hour. More concerning, the control to vent atmosphere had been triggered 12 times. Never to complete vacuum, just short bursts of exhaust, but that's what had triggered the sensor. Something was fouling the closure. He stood there for a moment, listening and thinking, then hit the entry.
The whoosh of the door sliding open was joined by the hushed murmur of voices. Three young faces stared up at him silhouetted in the opening, wide eyes shining in the unlit room through a haze of vapor. He took a tentative sniff, then looked around for the exhaust port they’d clearly been using in an attempt to not be found out.
“Huh. I haven’t smelled Felci in years,” he said, stepping into the room, the door shshing closed behind him. “We’re going to have a chat about that, maybe with the doc and maybe with your parents. But my main concern right now is--”
Even as he spoke, the oldest teen stood with the vaporizer and slammed it against a patch on the wall Zaz hadn’t identified in the dark. The orifice for evacuating air from the room. An orifice designed for clean lab air, not for tarry vapor, and certainly not for the metal and drug residue and chemical heater being crammed through it now. The vacuum triggered with a click and a low whoosh that built quickly. The children turned to look at it.
“Why isn’t it…?” One said edging toward the exit.
“It always just ran for a second, cleared the air, and stopped,” another said, stepping closer to investigate.
“Shit. Clear the room. Get into the corridor.” Zaz moved in, trying to get between them and the threat. Trying to get the room clear in front of him so he could seal it first and worry about the consequences they’d face and the stuck environmental control later.
The girl who had moved to investigate held her hand up to the orifice - waved it over what she must have assumed was a sensor. Right over the opening itself. Her hand sucked in tight against the opening and her mouth opened wide. She screamed. The sound of the air leaving the room stopped for a moment, then built again. Wetter this time, in concert with her shrieks.
“Out! Now!” Zaz thundered at the other two. They listened finally. Maybe in response to their friend’s obvious distress more than his increase in volume, but whatever worked. As the door opened, a klaxon sounded in the corridor, the ship’s internal sensors responding to a loss of air pressure in the corridor. The hatch to the compartment slammed shut as soon as the two were outside, leaving him alone with the girl.
He needed to get her free of the opening. Her face was ashen, possibly from blood loss into the vacuum of space. But if he didn’t do something to seal the opening he wouldn’t be saving her for long. The room was almost as empty as it was supposed to be, but on the floor was a PADD one of the kids must have brought it. He hoped it would be enough.
“Okay, this is going to suck.” Now wasn’t the time for puns, but he’d said what he said. With the PADD in one hand, he wrapped the other arm around the girl and turned, pulling her away, her screams reaching a new crescendo. He slammed the PADD into place as her flesh tore free of the hole, but the seal wasn’t nearly as good. Air whistled around the edges. A panel broke free of the wall, exposing complicated-looking scientific instruments, and only his burly shoulder, cradling her writhing form, kept it from slamming into her. He saw another panel rattling, only half secured to cover the instruments behind it. Of course it should have been secured better, but the techs who worked in this room assumed that any time it was subject to vacuum the panels would be fully removed.
He cradled the girl tighter against himself as the next panel slammed into him, pulled by the suction. Then another. His back pressed against the PADD, trying to force it to fit, but even his impressive strength couldn’t mold it to the shape of the hull. His skin puckered around the edges of the PADD. Metal panels crunched around him, pressing him to the wall. He tried to shield her. To protect her from the crushing weight of them even as he felt them grind away at his flesh now.
He couldn't move, his arms squeezing tighter and tighter around her as the panels pressed in around him, forming to his body, following their inexorable path toward the vacuum. He tried to find voice to assure her it would be all right but he was running out of air. He heard her whimper and felt her go still long before he blacked out.
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