Read Online Earth Song: Twilight Serenade by Mark Wandrey - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mark Wandrey
Ads: Link
assistance would be advisable.”
As they finished gearing up and moved over to the Kaatan wreck, Kal’at was dropped off by one of the shuttles. They were just beginning to transfer EPCs to the first two Ibeen in preparation of bringing them on line. An additional team of five more Beezer was added as well, both as security and possible manpower to work on salvage from the much larger wreck.
Lilith led the Beezer work crew, supervised by Kal’at and Isook, down to the power center of the wreck. They removed one of the three spent ship class EPCs, letting it float to waiting workers where it would be transported to an Ibeen, and carefully maneuvered the improvised one in place.
“Carefully,” Kal’at hissed as the hugely strong Beezer easily manhandled the five hundred kilo module between them. The Electro-Plasma Capacitors were designed to be highly stable. That said, the arrays were manufactured from dozens of older, salvaged EPCs. It wasn’t unheard of that one would fail and discharge its plasma in a deadly splash. With it packed in with dozens of others, there could be a chain reaction. Minu didn’t want to imagine how that would look.
The flattened cylinder of the EPC housing slid into its receptacle in the silence of vacuum. A single blue telltale lit up above the module once it was all the way in. Lilith moved to the main control panel adjacent to the EPC bays and tapped it to life. Lines of script flashed across it and she made selections.
“I am only bringing up life support at this point,” she told them. “We want to be in the CIC when I allow power to flow into the main systems and computer core.” Only a moment later, their suits showed atmosphere beginning to flow.
“Airtight forcefields have appeared in the cargo bay,” a Beezer salvage worker reported.
“The ship will use them wherever doors are ineffective,” Lilith explained.
Atmospheric pressure reached nominal for The People in less than a minute. That air held a little more oxygen and a bit high in pressure for humans though well within tolerance. Minu was about to reach for her helmet then thought again.
“Let’s keep our suits sealed until Lilith has the ship’s computer under control,” she instructed. Lilith cast her eyes at Minu for a moment but shrugged before closing the power panel and heading back to the CIC.
In the heart of the ship, Lilith accessed a hatch Minu had never knew existed. In the ‘bottom’ of the circular chamber, it went down just a half meter and opened out into a flat shallow room several meters on the side. Minu maneuvered herself down with some difficulty because of her spacesuit. “What is this?”
“This is the computer room,” Lilith told her. Block after block of the Kaatan’s nearly ubiquitous blue crystal components were mounted in milky white moliplas along all sides of the claustrophobic space. A single blue telltale flashed, like back in the power room. Lilith touched it and a tiny holographic screen appeared before her eyes. Minu could make out its script. It asked if she wanted to initiate a restart. “Please inform the Beezer on board to not make any threatening actions towards the ship unless it starts open hostilities. The combat intelligence may be disoriented initially.”
Minu relayed the orders to Isook who in turn told his crew. “We’re ready,” Minu said a few seconds later. Lilith nodded and tapped the display.
Instantly the room’s formerly inactive banks of crystalline memory modules came alive with a million interlaced flashes of light. Minu thought it looked like miniature lightning storms as seen in the sky from her island cabin back on Bellatrix.
Lilith moved around Minu gracefully and out the access and into the CIC. Minu carefully turned around and followed her, using her hands to guide herself out of the cramped space.
Outside Lilith waved a hand through the single holographic control panel that floated near the hatch, bringing up a page of script.
As they finished gearing up and moved over to the Kaatan wreck, Kal’at was dropped off by one of the shuttles. They were just beginning to transfer EPCs to the first two Ibeen in preparation of bringing them on line. An additional team of five more Beezer was added as well, both as security and possible manpower to work on salvage from the much larger wreck.
Lilith led the Beezer work crew, supervised by Kal’at and Isook, down to the power center of the wreck. They removed one of the three spent ship class EPCs, letting it float to waiting workers where it would be transported to an Ibeen, and carefully maneuvered the improvised one in place.
“Carefully,” Kal’at hissed as the hugely strong Beezer easily manhandled the five hundred kilo module between them. The Electro-Plasma Capacitors were designed to be highly stable. That said, the arrays were manufactured from dozens of older, salvaged EPCs. It wasn’t unheard of that one would fail and discharge its plasma in a deadly splash. With it packed in with dozens of others, there could be a chain reaction. Minu didn’t want to imagine how that would look.
The flattened cylinder of the EPC housing slid into its receptacle in the silence of vacuum. A single blue telltale lit up above the module once it was all the way in. Lilith moved to the main control panel adjacent to the EPC bays and tapped it to life. Lines of script flashed across it and she made selections.
“I am only bringing up life support at this point,” she told them. “We want to be in the CIC when I allow power to flow into the main systems and computer core.” Only a moment later, their suits showed atmosphere beginning to flow.
“Airtight forcefields have appeared in the cargo bay,” a Beezer salvage worker reported.
“The ship will use them wherever doors are ineffective,” Lilith explained.
Atmospheric pressure reached nominal for The People in less than a minute. That air held a little more oxygen and a bit high in pressure for humans though well within tolerance. Minu was about to reach for her helmet then thought again.
“Let’s keep our suits sealed until Lilith has the ship’s computer under control,” she instructed. Lilith cast her eyes at Minu for a moment but shrugged before closing the power panel and heading back to the CIC.
In the heart of the ship, Lilith accessed a hatch Minu had never knew existed. In the ‘bottom’ of the circular chamber, it went down just a half meter and opened out into a flat shallow room several meters on the side. Minu maneuvered herself down with some difficulty because of her spacesuit. “What is this?”
“This is the computer room,” Lilith told her. Block after block of the Kaatan’s nearly ubiquitous blue crystal components were mounted in milky white moliplas along all sides of the claustrophobic space. A single blue telltale flashed, like back in the power room. Lilith touched it and a tiny holographic screen appeared before her eyes. Minu could make out its script. It asked if she wanted to initiate a restart. “Please inform the Beezer on board to not make any threatening actions towards the ship unless it starts open hostilities. The combat intelligence may be disoriented initially.”
Minu relayed the orders to Isook who in turn told his crew. “We’re ready,” Minu said a few seconds later. Lilith nodded and tapped the display.
Instantly the room’s formerly inactive banks of crystalline memory modules came alive with a million interlaced flashes of light. Minu thought it looked like miniature lightning storms as seen in the sky from her island cabin back on Bellatrix.
Lilith moved around Minu gracefully and out the access and into the CIC. Minu carefully turned around and followed her, using her hands to guide herself out of the cramped space.
Outside Lilith waved a hand through the single holographic control panel that floated near the hatch, bringing up a page of script.
Similar Books
