The Silence In The Darkness.

Hamilton,  Matthew Chew the robot tech, and Aldo Fazio security guy- cargo handler. 

Matt says, “That’s odd, I get nothing from the bot. It should give some sort of signal. And the lights won’t go on in this section…” 

Hamilton asks, “So we don’t know Where the bot is? And how are we supposed to find it in the dark?”

Matt and Aldo both look at Hamilton. Aldo pulls out…a flashlight.

Matt says, “ There was a power loss in one of the container units. The bot was checking it out and then it too went out. I checked the circuit at the junction, and the whole thing is dead. That’s when I called you guys. I just fix the critters. I don’t mess with the big stuff.” 

lol

a flashlight! yeah I should have thought to bring one of those

“ok. Good! do you know Which container it was?”

Matt continues, “It wasn’t just one. It was a cascade failure. Started at the end and worked its way down to here.” 

“What was that?”

“What?” 

“Didn’t you hear that?” 

‘Listen! Do you smell something?’

“What? You smell with your ears?” 

"Quiet!" 

As the three of you cautiously move down the corridor, you find the robot. Think R2D2 Stopped in the middle of the way. on close examination, it has two scorch marks on the front. 

Aldo says, “Oh joy. First mate is on his way down.” 

“Why is He coming down here? Oh well I guess we have to behaive. Let’s wait for him so he doesn’t get lost.”

“Did you hear that?” 

“I heard it again. It sounded like…”

“Like what? a horrible Frankincense Monster coming to to devour us?”

The first mate has arrived and is visible in the corridor intersection. 

“MONSTER!”

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH”

"CALM DOWN!!!" 

“meow” 

“Did you hear that?” 

“uh….what the hell would a cat be doing down here?”

“Beats the hell outta me. “ 

“Hey! This is Mr. Creek. I’ve got a man above and below at the junctions at the end of the corridor.” 

“Thith ith Glick. One of the containers is carrying animals for tranthport to a zoo. They are thupposed to be in sthathis. However, Kutli tells me one is mithing. It themes it managed to wake up and escape. It’s a Zap Cat. A small one and probably won’t kill you but be careful anyway.” 

“ok. let’s keep looking for it.”

Eventually, you see it. It looks like a good size house cat. A bit bigger than say, KD, patrick’s old cat. It has the same kind of markings but its darker. Almost purple. And it has two tentacles on its shoulder. (got the idea from a displacer beast mini. if it hits you with both, you’ll be in for a shock… LOL)  But its just rubbing its back against something. 

“Don’t let it touch you with the tentacles!” 

I shoot it

remember My first three shots are tranquilizers = one in the chamber and two in the gun

MEROOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!” 

Not a happy cat…

 kitty cat is going night night. 

Yup. it You have to get some insulated gloves and stuff. But you manage to get it back into its cryo sleep cube. The ship’s doctor examines the cube and comments, “It wasn’t programed correctly. Or someone set it to deliberately  open. This was no accident.” 

“ so Who would ant us to come all the way down Here and why?

Me thinks something is Rotten in the state of Denmark!”

“who would have been all alone while we were putting the ‘cat to sleep?”

“or rather, what did they hope this thing would do? There is a lot of damage to the electrical system in that area…” 

“what else is down here? what would someone Want down here?”

Aldo says, “Dude, you know the specs. Just electrical and power and all that. We should check and make sure the zap cat didn’t mess things up too badly. That’s probably the reason the systems failed, the cat got into something.” 

Hamilton replies, “then let’s check the systems.”

“the electrical & power are just for This section right?"

Aldo adds, "Mostly yes. Some things get routed through here but most of the connections are to the containers and such.”

“ok. let’s check the systems and see what isn’t working.”

Ramon and Matt are electricians and can repair whatever needs repairing. The robot will have to wait. Fortunately, you’re in jump space so no need to actively monitor the MDrives. 

Hamilton, you know enough about ship systems to help them. Lex is going to have to watch everything on his own. The first mate will help him out by monitoring stuff from the bridge.

I ask the captain and first mate if I can speak to them

“Certainly. Any time.” 

Hamilton asks, “power went down on deck 5 and a zap cat got out frying some systems.

We took care of the cat and put it back in it’s cage but it burnt out a few connections.

I wanted to know if the cargo will be ok. What IS our cargo anyway?”

The first mate says,”That’s part of why I came down there. And why I woke up some of the other crew to watch the other hatches. We have a military cargo. It’s a small unit and their equipment. They are all in cold sleep. No one is supposed to know about it. But they are going from one base to another. It was just happenstance we ended up with them. Their ride to the next system had a mechanical issue so they ended up with us. And that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been injured. So, it was good luck for them. Not so much for you.” 

The captain adds,” We don’t know who or what they are. It’s not our business. The only thing that is is that, they are traveling on a military voucher. And that’s all I need to know. “ 

Hamilton adds, “I think who they are and what they are is the reason for the investigation.”

“It could very well be, someone does not want them to get to wherever they are going.” 

Hamilton replies, “That is EXACTLY what I was thinking.”

The first mate continues, “Well, we have four more days of transit. We could put everyone on an extra half shift. Increase ship patrol. But the Doctor seems to think the container with the cat was loaded with that program already set.”

“How would the doctor know that? sorry if I’m being idiotic…”

It’s a low passage berth or cryosleep tube. One of the main reasons he is on the ship is to deal with them.

“do you think we should talk to the doctor about the…people in cryosleep/low passage?”

“Talk to him about what? He’s inspected them all. The circuits are all good. So the tubes are functioning properly.”

Hamilton continues questioning with, “do you know the doctor well? What if he is a part of whatever is going on?”

 

The Captain answers with, “He’s been with the company for 6 years now. On this ship for 2. He’s pretty legit.” 

“does he have an assistant? or is there someone who has come on the ship recently, other than myself?”

“Nope. He pretty much handles it all on his own. I recall one of the crewmen is a paramedic. But otherwise, he is it for medical. Um, yeah, in as much as all this started not long after you came aboard, we kind of had our suspicious about you…” 

“i’m sure you are.”

“Go get some sleep.” 

The rest of the trip is uneventful  

Rise and shine!

“PING This is your alarm. You go on duty in one hour.” 

Hamilton wakes up and gets ready for his shift. And then sees about some grub. 

The cook is not around. He is off. But there is coffee and pastries out. A robot is keeping watch. They can do menial stuff but lack initiative. 

After coffee and hard boiled eggs, he heads to the engine room early. 

He has his tool belt and tool bag. Besides the old screwdriver and wrenches he has other tools. 






Hamilton has been at his station for an hour. It's 5am ship time when he hears "BUZZZZZZ. BUZZZZZZ BUZZZZZZ" Ship’s phone ringing. 

He picks it up reluctantly. Remembering the last time he picked up a ship's phone. 

“Engine room. Leeds Here.”

“HAMSTER!!!! It’s Chew. One of the robots was checking something out and went down. You’re the security guy this shift. I need some help getting the darn thing. Normally, not an issue. But it was investigating something. No idea what.” 

Hamilton replies, "Hang on a second. I need to call the bridge."

“Bridge. Mr. Evil. What cha want Hamster?” 

“Chew needs me to check on one of the robots. It was investigating something and it went down. He doesn’t know what it was. I want to know if I can leave my post and help him out.”

“Yeah just let Lex or Ramon know so they can monitor stuff. Um, you need any more help? Did he say what bot went down and where?” 

"No. He was pretty vague about which bot and where. He said it was investigating something but he had no idea what. I don’t know if I’ll need help but it couldn’t hurt.”

“OK, I’ll call Lex, tell him to watch your board. And I’ll call Aldo. Tell him to meet you guys wherever you end up. He’s on duty and he’s down in one of the cargo decks someplace. “ 

“OK. Thank you, Mr. Evil!”

Hamilton contacts Chew, “Chew. Leeds Here. Where did the robot go down?”

Chew replies, “It was doing a container check on deck 5. It was in the forward section to starboard.”

“Mr. Evil. Leeds again. Tell Aldo to meet me on Deck 5, the Forward section to Starboard. That’s where the Robot went down.

I’ll Meet Him at the elevator or stairs which ever he takes. Thank you.”

“Hamster!!! OK will do.”

Hamilton arrives and Chew is at the junction waiting. “There’s something moving down there.” as he points down the corridor. “And it’s no robot…” 

Reminder:

Matthew Chew is the robot technician. No one hardly ever sees him. 

Ramon Tsu is the power plant engineer and electrician. 

Cargo handler Aldo Fazio is a secondary security guy. 

Not to be confused with Alfredo D’oro who is Power plant engineer for third shift. 

Hamilton decides to take precautions and goes to a security locker and gets a 12 gauge and tranquilizer & anti-personnel rounds and waits for Aldo before going in.

six plus one round in the chamber. first three rounds are tranq. The rest are ap. 

Aldo shows up. "OK, let's go find a robot."

Ouch. I sure hope my insurance covers this.

Hamilton wakes up in a hospital.

beep beep beep beep beep beep…

As he looks around there’s a nurse moving about and a police officer sitting in a chair. 

Hamilton weakly says,“hello”

“Ah, you’re conscious. The detectives will want to talk to you”.

Three guys come in. Two of them in suits. One in a uniform of some sort. 

“So. You are Mr. Hamilton Leeds. We have a couple of questions for you. You went to the MOJ earlier yesterday and reported a strange phone call. And then you went to the Top Of The World. What happened after that?”

“I was shot at by several people. I think they were human. I think I managed to kill one of them but I know I knocked one out.”

“What were you doing there? Can you tell us the sequence of events?” 

“well….after I got no help from the MoJ I decide to go to the place and see what was happeneing.

I came in and no one was there. I sat down at a table and ordered a drink.

as I was waiting, either my glass or a fixture on the table exploded and I heard a CRACK like from a pistol or rifle.

I ducked under the table and, after a few minutes, ran out from under it and I threw a….glass or…something…i can’t remember what

at the person who was shooting at me. He went down and I ran over to him with the intent of rendering him/her/it unconscious.

I heard more people coming so, seeing as the person was unconscious anyway, I grabbed the shooters gun and aimed it at the doorway.

When someone came through, and not wearing a MoJ uniform, I shot at them.

I don’t remember if I hit that person or not cause I was hit myself and went unconscious.

I woke up Here just a few minutes ago. That’s all I know.

umm….where’s my hat?”

“Wait, so there was someone else in there? Where was he?” 

“Who took your drink order?”

“I don’t remember who took my order but I remember ordering…..that’s weird….

the only people I remember being in there was the shooter, who I knocked unconscious

and someone else who came in from the doorway and shot me unconscious.”

“my boots are still here right?”

“OH NO! Did my ship leave without me!?!”

The lead detective continues, “All your belongings are in a bag. You’ll be released from here later on today. Your ship is still here. With everything that happened, your departure has been delayed. We feel the two incidents are related. We spoke with the agents you met with earlier at the MOJ. And yes, they were no help. They remember talking to you but not much else. On the plus side, ordinarily, I would expect your captain to be pissed. However, we’ve made arrangements to have several more cargo pods added to your ship’s cargo. So the extra income should offset the delay. One of those pods will be a personnel transport pod. Which will include Supervising Officer Gordon Strong. Of the Security Branch of the IISS (imperial interstellar scout service) He will stay with your ship as the investigation continues. Otherwise, we’ll have to hold the ship in port until everything is resolved.” 

"There is another thing. We found no other bodies. One of the shots from your mysterious assailant shattered a window and set off a security alarm. When station security got there, you were the only thing we found. We did find evidence of a struggle. We also found the staff locked in a freezer. They were unconscious and could not give us any information." 

Hamilton gets back to the ship with some help. 

He's in a kind of anti grav wheel chair. And the first thing is, he gets taken to the captain. Who has a few things to talk to him about. 

Hamilton gets taken to his office where he, the first mate, and the head purser are waiting for you. Gordon Strong is also there. 

The captain says,“Well, first thing, you left the ship without authorization. That in itself is grounds for firing. But, there are extenuating circumstances. Lucky for you,  with the mysterious body and the ongoing investigation, you will be required to stay with the ship. And then, you getting injured. The second thing is, why didn’t you tell anyone you were leaving the ship? You had decent enough grounds. In as much as you had information in an ongoing investigation. The purser or someone else should have gone with you to ensure you returning to the ship on time. We almost left without you. And then you were injured while away.  And that’s another issue. We were delayed in our departure due to all of this. Lucky for you, once again, it was made worth our while. In any case, you will return to duty when the ship’s doctor clears you. Which I think will be in time for your early shift tomorrow. (oh the wonders of SF medicine). Until then, remain in your cabin except for meals and hygiene. You are not to talk to the rest of the crew about it. Understood?” 

‘Yes, sir’

“If I might speak with you and the first mate privately ,sir?”

Once everyone else leaves the room the captain says, “Sorry, but we can’t be sure no one else in the crew is involved in whatever is going on. Bill is off ship. Maybe it was him. Or maybe he was a dupe. Anyway, you were going to say something?”

“I was going to say that the reason I didn’t say anything about leaving the ship was to ensure the innocence of the crew.”

“and not to hurt anyone’s feelings in regard to Bill. I’m pretty sure he’s involved in all this but I don’t know what it’s all about or if he is being framed.”

“unfortunately, I didn’t recognize Anyone who shot at me. And I’m sorry if I screwed things up.”

“I met someone in the restaurant just as I was getting shot at”

I describe the guy I met under the table

“Does he sound like someone either of you know? or might have met?”

“I don’t know Why he was there. I didn’t get chance to talk to him."

The captain says,“Regardless, you still should have come to me about this before leaving the ship.” 

“We altho have thome quethtions regarding your former cabinmate. We just got a methage from the Agni, the ship Bill was thupposed to report to. He never thowed up. They are athking uth where he went.” Glick continues. “He’th been on the thip a while but was thomewhat of a loner. Maybe now we know why. But who ith the dead guy?” 

“still don’t know who it is. and are we even Sure it’s a Guy?”

“anyway, I will report to the medical center and get the doctor to check me out then to my cabin. I AM restricted to my cabin correct?

except for meals & hygiene?”

As for the guy under the table, they all say no or shake their heads. 

“Yes. The forensics said its a male about 30 years of age. Its not so much you are restricted as a punishment, but rather for your own safety. "

Hamilton is dismissed and proceeds to sick bay to see the doctor he checks Hamilton out and sees he is healing nicely. "You are OK to return to duty. Oh, we jump in 4 hours." 

Hmilton goes back to his cabin and goes to sleep. Just before he nods off “All hands, prepare for jump”   “Jump!”