“Wow.”
Frey knew she was talking to herself, but she didn’t care. There was no one else in the lab aside from the unmoving slab of frozen Viking. So, she talked to him when no one was around. What was wrong with that? Okay, she dreamed about him too, but those images were too erotic to think about while she was working.
She’d opened the viewing screens on the lower deck so that she could get a good look at the eclipse, which was lining up to be spectacular. Four of the planets, including her home planet Pavlovan were now aligned, and the fifth would be engulfed fairly shortly. The reflected light made the planets glow blood red, like four various sized discs superimposed upon each other. The smallest planet, Thor, would slide into place within the next few minutes and then hold position for about the same length of time until the planets moved away from each other again.
Data streamed down from six screens in an endless torrent. Frey had no time to analyze it properly, which didn’t sit well with her. Her role was to make sure all the cameras and readers were functioning and relaying the information back to the FREN and Pavlovan scientists who had never witnessed this particular phenomenon before.
First Officer Slavin had said that several nations were also monitoring the eclipse. She had offered to stay on the bridge for the nightshift just to watch it happen. Frey thought seeing it through the sealed windows of the space ship was way more interesting than just staring at the screens. As far as Frey knew, there was no danger in looking directly at the alignment through the thick protection of TecGlass, so she was soaking up every second.
After another quick check of the screens, she turned back to the window, holding her breath as the planet Thor finally slid into place right in the center of the slightly bigger Odin. Waves of redness seemed to undulate from the five planets making Frey blink.
“That’s
awesome
,” she whispered suddenly aware of what that overused word really meant.
A flash on one of the monitors made her look up as all the screens suddenly went haywire.
Frey tried to make sense of the gibberish now running on the screens, which flashed on and off. With a sudden explosion of color, the image disappeared leaving all the screens black.
“Holy
heeze
,” Frey muttered as she frantically pushed every button she could find. “What happened?”
“
Are you okay down there
?”
“
Yeah, but the data stream just collapsed. Is everything okay with the ship, Slavin?
”
“
Nope, all screens blacked out here and the coms. Life support is fully functioning though
.”
“Frak,” Frey muttered as the screens flashed from black to red and back again. “
Do you need to wake the captain
?”
“
I’ll—”
Slavin’s breath hissed out. “
Oh, thank the Gods, we’re back online. I’m going to run some tests. You okay down there?
”
Frey blinked as her screens stayed red, and random columns of figures cascaded downward like an uncontrollable waterfall.
“
I’m registering something. I’m not quite sure what it is
.” She leaned closer to the screen and squinted against the fierceness of the red. “
It looks like gibberish and it’s certainly not English. Hieroglyphics maybe? Runes?
”
The six screens flashed simultaneously and Frey instinctively shut her eyes. When she opened them again the data stream had returned to normal.
“
Tecky? Frey? Are you still there
?”
She fumbled to sit upright, mortally embarrassed that she’d somehow ended up under her desk like a three year old. “
I’m fine, Slavin. It just got a bit bright in here. Everything’s back to normal now
.”
“
Good
.” Slavin hesitated. “
You sound a bit shaken. Do you want me to send security down?
”
“
No, I’m good, I really am
.” Frey shook herself and stood up, smoothing down her tightly tied back hair. She tried to appear like the competent officer she was. “
I have to check on my cargo
.”
She picked up the specially tuned recorder the FREN rep had given her and turned toward the cold storage zone. Even through the glass, she could still see the block of ice and the Viking encased inside. Red light reflecting off the eclipse outside gave the ice a rosy pink glow with a smattering of dancing crimson lights.
Frey unlocked the security door and went in. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until it whooshed out in a little cloud of heated air. She put a tentative hand on the ice. It was frozen hard and the cooling jets beneath it still functioned perfectly.
Turning on the recorder, she walked around the block of ice, giving the receptors time to pick up all four probes. The signal beeped and registered another zero, and Frey sent a prayer up to the Pavlovan heavens. She’d go through the complete records tomorrow, after she’d reported the fault to her superiors back at FREN. They’d probably already noticed there was a break in transmission, but there was a slight delay in receiving information so she didn’t expect to hear back from them right away. It gave her plenty of time to analyze the problem and send them a complete report herself.
A flash of light glinted off the ice, and she stared back through the glass into her empty lab where the screens were functioning perfectly and beyond her desk to the still amazing sight of the aligned planets. A soft sigh echoed around the enclosed space and the ice creaked and groaned.
The recorder in her hand buzzed. She looked down at it and then further down to the metallic floor where something red glinted against the corner of the ice block. Frey crouched down and studied the gleaming red droplet, laughing with stupid relief as she realized it was just a reflection of the eclipse. For a second, it had looked more like a solid gemstone.
Her smile dimmed. Her back was now blocking the colors of the eclipse and yet the red was still there…Tentatively she leaned forward and touched the droplet. It adhered to her skin, a perfect red globe and she brought it closer to her face and sniffed it, wondering at the coppery smell. Was one of the probes within the ice malfunctioning or even worse, rusting? It seemed unlikely, but she would mention it on her next report.
Even as she stared at the red droplet it started to lose its shape. She flicked her finger and jumped as a sharp pain pieced her skin.
“Ouch! What the frak was that?” She flinched as a bead of her own blood now bloomed in the exact same place as the red droplet had been. Instinctively, she brought her finger to her mouth and sucked on it.
“Eew, no that was stupid!”
She flicked her fingers, and holding her hand up and away from herself went through the process of relocking the security doors until she was safety back in the lab and able to raid the medical kit for a disinfectant spray to close the wound. She should have been wearing gloves before she touched the ice or even went near it. In her haste to check that the Viking was still okay, she’d forgotten procedure and ended up doing something monumentally stupid.
God knows what she could’ve done in there, adding her blood to the controlled atmosphere around the ice. She was a complete idiot. It was
so
not like her to do something so unprofessional.
“Everything okay down there, Tecky?” Slavin came on the com.
“Yes, everything’s fine. No change in our cargo, and all my screens are working perfectly now.”
“Good, I don’t think there is any point in waking the whole crew up over this. We’ll mention what happened to the captain at the handover in the morning, okay?”
“Fine by me.”
“Then I’ll see you up here on the bridge in three hours.”
“Will do.” Frey signed off and put away the medical kit. She’d give her report to the captain in the morning as to the effect of the eclipse on her sensors and instruments, but she wasn’t going to mention her bleeding finger. Unfortunately, that information would be available for FREN to view on their specially installed cameras in the hold, which meant she might be about to lose her job.
With a groan she glared at her throbbing finger. So much for her long career as a Science Officer roaming the galaxies for FREN and TSA. She’d blown it. As soon as she got to Alpha Three she’d be fired.
She probably wouldn’t even be allowed to stay long enough to see what happened to the Viking, and without FREN security clearance she probably never would find out if he survived… And that was unacceptable. She already felt a deep connection with him that unsettled her. Maybe it was that being associated with his reemergence into the world would help her scientific career, but it felt so much more…as if she was somehow supposed to defend him against everyone and every thing.
There was no point trying to hide what she’d done. Perhaps her honesty would work in her favor and they’d simply demote her rather than letting her go.
“Yeah, right.” Frey muttered. “FREN is so well known for its compassion.”
She settled back in her seat and started to compose her report and, just in case, her resignation.
The buzz of her com in her ear woke her and she sat up, aware that she’d fallen asleep at her desk analyzing data and that her hair was stuck to her face with what was either tears or drool. Whatever it was, she was glad there wasn’t any vidscreen action. She hated looking less than immaculate.
“Tecky? We need you up here pronto.”
“Yes, Captain.”
She wished she had time to change but did the best she could to smooth down her hair and freshen up. She took the elevator to the bridge and arrived to find the whole crew already there.
“I hear there were some problems last night.” Travis nodded to Frey to sit down and then pointed at Slavin. “What happened?”
“There was a small blip in our power when the eclipse reached its magnitude. I checked with Tecky in the lab to see if she was okay. Just as I was doing that all my systems returned to normal.” Slavin consulted her handtech unit. “I’ve tested all systems and security classifications and there is no damage or indication why the outage occurred.”
“Life support wasn’t affected?”
“No Captain, just the screens on the bridge, which became nonfunctional for about thirty clicks.”
“What about the navigational functions of the ship?”
“Unimpaired. It was as if the data streams were interrupted for a few seconds.” Slavin shrugged. “I wondered if the perfect alignment of the eclipse had something to do with it, but as we’ve no record of this planetary event happening before, I don’t have any data to back up my theory.”
Captain Travis studied the data Slavin handed him. “Carry on with your tests and relay everything you’re doing back to FREN, Earth and Pavlovan. They might have additional information for us. Until we hear anything different, we’ll proceed as planned to Alpha Three.”
“Yes, sir.” Slavin nodded.
Frey tensed as the captain turned to her.
“Everything okay with your cargo, Tecky?”
“My screens went off for a few seconds, but there was no damage to the ice or the Viking that I could see. I’ve also written a report for FREN if you wish to read it.”
Travis nodded. “Hell no, that’s fine. Just make sure you send a copy along with Slavin’s and any extra data you gathered when you checked your systems to FREN and every other damn agency that will insist on seeing it.”
“Yes, sir.” Frey sank back into her chair aware that Slavin was watching her closely. She made sure her telepathic shields were as high as she could before rising to her feet and nodding at the other crew members.
“I’m going to get something to eat. Is anyone coming?” Frey asked in her most cheerful
I have nothing to hide
voice.
“I’ll come.”
Slavin joined her in the elevator, her blond hair neatly tied back in a ponytail, her expression concerned.
“
What’s wrong
?”
“
Why should anything be wrong
?” Frey asked.
“
Because before you shoved your shields up, I sensed that you weren’t telling the captain the entire truth
.
Is everything okay with your cargo?”
“He’s fine. It’s just that I forgot to put my gloves on last night and touched the ice barehanded. I’m worried I might have contaminated the space.”
“The Viking’s still frozen stiff, right?”
“Yeah he is.”
The doors of the elevator opened on the mess level.
“Then you should be okay.”
Frey followed Slavin out of the elevator.
“You don’t know FREN. They are really strict about proper procedure, and I’m a science officer. I should have remembered to keep the atmosphere pollutant free.”
“It was an emergency situation. You did your best.”
Slavin said firmly. She pushed open the mess hall door. “Now come and get something to eat.”
It was late, but Frey was determined to finish checking through every bit of information that had accrued during the eclipse. She’d pinpointed the exact Earth second when the systems had attempted to crash. It had only been about one hundred and thirty seconds of lost power, but she still had no idea what had caused it.
Glancing up, she studied the five planets that had now moved away from each other. Appearances in space were deceptive. They still had quite a way to go before they reached the research station on Alpha Three, which was between two of the moons. She sighed and took another sip of her coffee, one of the few things she had really appreciated about her stint on Earth.
If by some chance she kept her job and got to witness the defrosting process, she was then due two months of leave on Pavlovan. Her family intended to take her to the temple to meet the Oracle and see if she would reveal at least one of Frey’s chosen mates.
Frey finished the coffee in one gulp. She’d managed to avoid going to the temple on her last visit, but she couldn’t miss it again. Despite her mother’s checkered history with her mates, she would be upset if Frey didn’t go. At twenty-five, she was quite old enough to find out what the future had in store for her—even if that meant agreeing to meet an unknown mate or two.