The Navigator 2: We the People (4 page)

"Are you alright Gillian?" Joe asked.

"A bad sprain, but in this environment it feels like it's broken." She gasped out. "Your giant jar-head here refuses to leave me."

"What can I say; I have a hero complex!" Luke cracked back.

Joe grinned back at the pair. "Well, let's get the hell out of here. Heather, I'm going to need your help with this."

"What… what is the computer saying about our course?" The woman asked breathing heavily.

"It says there is a course error and a correction is needed. Can it be as simple as giving it a destination to get out of this?" Joe asked.

Heather grinned. "Did you try it?"

"Nope, I'm not that brave. I was busy trying to make sure Jared had a worse day than we are," Joe replied. "All I've had time for really."

Heather joined Joe at the terminal as Luke took Gillian into the bay. He'd make sure her ankle got treated. "Luke, once you get Gillian fixed up, stay in there; with any luck, we'll be joining you shortly," Joe said. 

"You got it boss; I don't think I'd be much help right now anyway," Luke replied.

Once Luke and Gillian were out of earshot, Heather spoke. "You're the super-navigator Becka went to meet aren't you? The one that would free us from Jared."

"I'm not a super anything, Miss. I'm just a guy with some unique skills trying to do my best for my people," Joe replied. "I'm no better than anyone else; in fact, I'm probably a lot worse. I created this mess after all."

"Actually, the way I see it, it is Jared who created this mess, you just acted to minimize the damage. Considering you had no idea what he'd done, you did pretty well," Heather replied after she pulled up some programming he didn't understand. "Jesus! He neutered this fucking computer! There are no safety routines in place at all!"

"Does that mean we can input a destination and jump out of here?" Joe asked.

Heather shook her head sadly. "No, we can drop out of hyperspace, but we can't move the station without creating a paradox event. We aren't completely frozen in time; if we were, we wouldn't be able to move at all. If we try to use the power we would need to move the station, it would rupture the warp field and drop us out right here. No, the station is doomed; no way around that."

"Okay, so how do we get out of here without taking a radiation bath?" Joe asked.

"You're going to have to jump the pod again," Heather replied.

"I don't know if I have the strength left for that Heather. I took that stim shot, but just moving it a few feet into the bay made me a little dizzy," Joe replied.

Heather looked up at him and smiled softly. "Then none of us are going home today."

"Joe? Just do it. You'll be fine, I promise," Cassie told him. "Trust me on this."

Joe was thoughtful for a moment. "Alright, if you're sure, let's get this show on the road. Heather, go get in the pod. I'll input the course change and set a timer on it. We'll get out of here before it takes effect."

"Give it at least five minutes, Major," Heather said. "That gives you plenty of time to get to the pod and get our asses out of here."

Joe nodded and turned to the terminal as she entered the bay.

"Cassie, how do I make a jump blind?" He asked. "For my ability to work, I need to see where I'm going."

"Actually, I think you'll be alright if you just envision a place you've been; just place yourself in the air above it to prevent a collision. The pod's safety systems will handle the rest," Cassie replied. "Don't over think this, just do it; you don't really have a choice, after all."

While Cassie had been answering him, he programmed the computer to drop back to real space at their present position in five minutes.

"Okay, the timer is set. I hope you know what I'm doing Cassie; because this could kill us," Joe replied.

"You'll be fine, Joe. Just trust me on this," Cassie replied.

Joe thought he heard something else in her voice, but knew he could trust her. There was something she wasn't telling him, but he also knew she would never hurt them.

As Joe climbed into the pod, he saw that Gillian had an emergency splint on her ankle and everyone was strapped in. Joe took a seat and began strapping himself in too. "Okay kids, are we ready to blow this Popsicle stand?"

"As long as we're not here when it blows, I'm good with it," Luke replied and the two women laughed at him.

Joe shifted his vision into hyperspace mode and tried to think of a place he had been. The only place that came to mind was the camp that Becka and he had shared. He saw it take form outside the pod. "Okay boys and girls, don't try this at home. Hang on everyone!" Joe said and used his enhancements to fire the pods thrusters, pushing the pod into the jump.

The day before Joe tried to jump the pod off the station, other very strange events were unfolding elsewhere. The orbital station that was the customs access point for the planet BC IV received a weak distress beacon from an escape pod. The pod ID reported it was from The Citadel, and carried six unconscious passengers. The station, acting on standing protocol, dispatched a rescue mission down to retrieve the pod and its occupants.

When the pod computer identified one of the pod occupants as Major Joseph Anderson, the station commander immediately classified the entire event and put strict controls on any and all knowledge of it and directed the pod to stop broadcasting the distress signal. He was one of a very few people that knew Major Anderson's mission and kept track of him in order to render whatever assistance he could if he needed it. So the man knew Major Anderson was still at the New Hedron spaceport preparing to leave for the Citadel.

The Commander sent a secure report to the Admiral about the events and what he had done to contain the situation. Admiral Hawklings agreed with him and ordered that the occupants of the pod be brought to the station for medical treatment and to be kept in strict isolation from as many people as possible. When the rescue teams reported the positive identification of the occupants, the station commander told him to keep every scrap of information about the rescue to themselves and to log the entire event as a training exercise.

The medical personnel were very concerned about the occupants as they could not find a reason for them all to be unconscious. Admiral Hawklings joined the station commander when they demanded the six people be sent to Darkwater station for further treatment. The briefing included the two PA's that were part of the rescue team that recovered them.

"Doctors, there is a reason we have classified this entire event," Hawklings said grimly. "We also have a pretty good idea why they are in this condition. You must also swear to keep all knowledge of this event to yourselves and to not let anyone know of it."

"What is it, Admiral, why are they in this coma?" one of the Doctors asked. It was clear he was concerned about his patients.

"They are unconscious because they already exist in this time," Hawklings replied. "Whatever event forced them to make a hyperjump in an escape pod, also pushed them backwards in time."

"Sir, escape pods don't have jump engines," one of the ESAR (Emergency Search and Rescue) medics replied.

Hawklings smiled and nodded. "We know. We don't yet know how it happened, only that it has. I imagine, we won't know exactly what happened until Major Anderson wakes up to tell us. From what we know of this, and it is all speculation mind you, they should wake up once the event happens and they make their jump. Until then, all we can do is treat their wounds and keep them alive and hidden from the rest of the world. A temporal jump should not be possible; obviously it is, but there are problems with it. Guard our travelers well and care for them; they are the only ones that will be able to give us the answers to our questions."

"Admiral, the two younger girls have been abused very badly. We are treating their wounds, but they are going to need psychological help once they wake up. Who would do such a thing to them?" The lead doctor asked.

"Jared Smalls, the senior Navigator in charge of The Citadel. He took the two girls hostage in order to use their brothers as spies in the research labs on the planet. We don't know how many others he might have taken as well, but that is one of the issues Major Anderson is being sent there to discover," Hawklings explained.

The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sir, but the Major can't go anywhere in his present condition."

Hawklings smiled. "Doctor, the Major I'm speaking of is currently on his way to The Citadel."

The doctor shook his head. "This is going to give me a headache!"

"In order to avoid a lot of unanswerable questions, your patients cannot exist yet. So for now, just take care of them. Call me or Brian directly, and no one else, as soon as their condition changes," Hawklings ordered, referring to the local station commander. "Until then, no one else is to know who they are or that they are even here, understood?"

"Yes Sir, we'll take care of it. The nurses will have to know, but we can take care of that," the Doctor replied.

Hawklings nodded. "Other than the obvious, what are their conditions?"

"They are all showing signs of extreme physical fatigue. Navigator Gillian Hewes has a fractured ankle, Major Anderson took a stim shot at some point; we can still detect the drug in his system," the doctor reported.

"What do the nanocytes report?" Hawklings asked.

The doctor sighed. "Whatever is affecting them seems to be affecting the nano's as well, they are currently inactive and will not respond to any of our queries. They're still in there, they still show as functional, but they are not responding to us. It's almost like we don't have the right comm channel to talk to them."

"Are they still doing their jobs? You said the two girls were in bad shape…" Hawklings asked.

"Not presently, which is one of the concerns we have. They were, that much is clear, but like their hosts, they are just… idle." The doctor replied. "It's kind of spooky really, almost like they are in a type of stasis."

"Are they?" Hawklings asked.

The man shrugged. "We just don't know yet. I could order a cellular analysis, but you want this kept quiet. If they found anything unusual, they'd want to know why."

"Do what you can, Doc. It's more important to just keep them alive for now. With any luck, this won't last very long," Hawklings replied.

"Wait, Ryers, get another blood sample from the Major and check for stim levels," the doctor said.

The light seemed to come on for the PA and she left the office. "What are you up to, Doctor?" Hawklings asked.

"Sir, we know how quickly the stims are metabolized in the body. We ran the blood work on the Major as part of our original examination. He's been here for four hours now, the level of stims in his system should be almost half. If they're not, then his body isn't purging the drug, which means he can't be aging either. That'll answer your stasis question. But then the question becomes, what's holding them in stasis?" The doctor replied thoughtfully.

"That is a question we may never find the answer to, Doctor," the station commander replied.

Hawklings nodded his agreement. "Doctor, I want you to keep all information on this isolated, and send it all to me after they wake up. Even the stuff you discover while caring for them. Okay?"

The doctor nodded. "We are well into the realm of the unknown here, Admiral. I can very well understand that. It may well be that we are not meant to know this yet. What is it that insane bastard always said; Hyperspace has its own rules and reasons?" He shook his head. "As scary as that is, he might have been right. The Navigators give us access to a whole new world; it would follow that world might have its own natural laws; this could be one of them."

Hawklings nodded slowly, thinking about what the doctor had said. "You could very well be correct, Doctor. Please include that in your report."

"Happily, Admiral," the Doctor replied.

The PA, Ryers, came back in and handed a plastic sheet to the doctor.

"What did you find, Ryers?" Hawklings asked.

The woman shook her head. "No reduction in adrenaline or any of the other markers. The stimulant is at the same level as it was four hours ago." She reported. "Their hearts beating, they are breathing, there is measurable brain activity, but are they even aging like this?"

The doctor shook his head. "We just don't know, Ryers. If they are, they're doing it much slower than the rest of us."

The first sound he heard was the beeping of the heart monitor. He felt like he was encased in lead and everything hurt. It was a muscle pain though, like he had really, really over exerted himself.

"It's the after-effects of the stim shot." A female said in his mind. He recognized her voice, but just couldn't put a name to her yet. "Don't worry, your mind will catch up. You put a hell of a strain on it, and it needs to heal as well."

He seemed to remember… something, and knew she was right. He had been under a great deal of stress. Something to do with saving someone; more than one? Did he do it?

"Yes, you did, everyone's safe. You only need to work on getting yourself healed up now," the voice said. "Sleep now, sleep will help you heal. You’re safe, but you need to heal. I'll listen for you when you wake. Just sleep now."