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06:07
Alarms blaring broke Imari’s concentration, forcing her to look up from the novel she was reading on a datapad. Her gaze fixed on the monitor, and she gasped when she saw the bars spiking to indicate radiation leakage in the engine room. In seconds, she was out of her chair, dropping the datapad without care, and rushing to the bank of computers.
As she called up a diagnostic, Joe appeared at her side, his complexion chalk-white. Imari’s eyes widened when she saw the level of radiation leaking into the engine room. Diagnostics showed a blocked vent, forcing the isotopes from the engine to circulate back into the room instead of through the filtering system before being safely released into space as a harmless vapor.
“The door.” Joe stabbed the schematics of the engine room, pointing to the barrier that should have descended. “It hasn’t come down.”
Cursing, Imari called up the system controls, trying to get the door to shut. It should have closed immediately upon radiation reaching its sensors, sealing the chamber. If the engine room wasn’t sealed off, the radiation would quickly leak through the ship. At the current levels, they would all be glowing green within ten minutes.
Her stomach churned, but Imari forced down the nausea. “I can’t get the controls to respond. The door has to be shut manually.”
Joe turned an even paler shade of white. “That’s suicide for whoever goes in there.”
Imari allowed a nod to be her acknowledgement as she moved purposefully to the radiation suits stored in the next room. The lieutenant followed behind, apparently wanting to want to argue with her, but not sure how to begin. She was grateful he couldn’t seem to verbalize his objections, because she feared it wouldn’t take much to talk her out of going into the engine room to seal the chamber manually.
“We should talk to the commander. Commander Daniels will know what to do.” A thin edge of panic laced his words. His movements were jerky when he tried to stop her from opening the case to retrieve a suit.
Impatient with the time wasting, Imari forced herself to sound calm as she pushed away Joe’s hand. “You know the protocol, Lt. Douglass. The procedures are set in place for a reason. If I don’t go in there, everyone will die.”
“But you will if you do.”
Without replying, Imari stepped into the rigid suit, pulling it up as far as she could without assistance. After slipping her arms into the sleeves, she turned her back to Joe. “Close me up.”
His fingers were clumsy with the closure, but he managed to seal her in after a long moment. With obvious reluctance, Joe removed the helmet and started to place it on her head. Imari held up a hand. “You’ll have to notify Commander Daniels about the situation. I have a radio in the suit, but the radiation might cause interference.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The helmet came down, and Imari took a deep breath to ward off the claustrophobic feeling wearing the suit inspired. She had worn them in simulations, but this was her first live run in a radiation suit. It was an experience she could have happily skipped for the rest of her life...all five minutes left of it.
Forcing resoluteness she didn’t feel, Imari took the toolkit Joe handed her and walked out of the room, finding the rigid material of the suit molded to her body with each step, until it felt like a second skin. If not for the moisture of her own sweat making the clothes under the suit stick to her skin, she might have been able to pretend the suit was comfortable.
All too soon, the hallway led her to the engine compartment. Imari tried not to think about the radiation particles flooding her as she set the toolkit on the floor and opened the control panel to manually lower the door. She frowned. There was no indication of malfunction. The circuits were wired properly. Retrieving a reader from the toolkit, she performed a diagnostic. The display read nominal.
Repeating the diagnostic twice more gave the same results. There was nothing wrong with the door. The sensors weren’t malfunctioning, and the wiring hadn’t prevented it from closing. The door hadn’t closed because it hadn’t detected radiation.
The malfunction must lie within the main computer. Pushing back the sharp wave of fear that pierced her gullet, Imari grasped the toolkit and walked into the engine room. Her gaze dropped to the radiation badge on the suit, expecting it to have moved from yellow straight to black, indicating a fatal dose of radiation had penetrated the suit. The bar hadn’t changed color.
Imari retrieved the Geiger counter from the toolkit, finding the room was clean. Lightheaded with relief, she had to breathe deeply for a long moment before summoning the ability to turn on the radio. “Joe?”
“Yes, Chief?”
“There’s no leak. Cancel the alarm. I’m going to do a diagnostic on the main computer. It must have malfunctioned.”
Relief made his voice sound thick. “I’ll inform the commander.”
With awkward movements, Imari managed to release the seal on the helmet and pull it off. Curses flew from her mouth as she contorted her body into an unfamiliar position to release the lock on the back of the suit so she could remove it. Once free of it, Imari let it stay in a bundle on the floor, the helmet tossed aside haphazardly.
Keeping a sharp eye on the Geiger counter, Imari moved to the main computer, opening the panel. The first thing she did was request a system diagnostic. Within two minutes, the computer’s voice delivered a dry accounting of all functions. All were in nominal range.
In case the computer system itself was corrupted, Imari used the handheld reader to run a manual diagnostic of all system components. Her frustration increased as each reading came back normal.
Next, she walked over to visually inspect the engine ports. A diagnostic of each vent yielded a nominal return, increasing her confusion. She physically checked each vent, ensuring it was at maximum exhaust, again finding nothing out of the ordinary.
As each test revealed a fully functioning engine, venting system, and optimal computer controls, her suspicions grew. There had to be a reason for the radiation alarm, for the main system picking up high rad levels, but the answer didn’t lie in the equipment.
When Kate entered the engine room, Imari was unsurprised. She was relieved to note the captain was alone and hurried over to join her.
“Report.”
“Everything is functioning within normal parameters, ma’am.”
Daniels’s eyes narrowed. “What’s the problem then?”
Imari barely bit back a sigh. “I suspect another act of sabotage, but haven’t found the method yet.”
Silence filled the room as the commander’s expression reflected her deep thoughts. Finally, she said, “Take it apart, down to the last bolt.”
Eyes wide, Imari said, “That could take a day or two. We can’t use the primary engines during that time.”
“I know. We’ll switch to auxiliary power for the time being.” Kate shrugged. “At most, we’ll lose a day or two. No one on Primos knows we’re coming, so it doesn’t matter if we get there a little later.” Her mouth tightened. “What matters is who did this. I want to know who is fucking with my ship and how they’re doing it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Take as long as you need, but move as fast as you can. For the time being, I want you and Lt. Douglass to eat, sleep, and breathe dismantling the engine room until you find out how this happened.”
Already anticipating a tense day ahead, one with little food and even less rest, Imari struggled to hide any reaction when she said, “Yes, ma’am. We’ll get started right away.”