The Gauloi Read online

“Bullshit.” Runo cursed. Reanimation was never that fast.

  Pushing herself out of her chair, Runo traced her steps back to the crew stasis chamber, passing through empty corridors, open doors and closed lockers. A constant, dull hum following her everywhere she went. Opening the hatch, Runo found the room exactly how she had left it, one opened pod, four sealed.

  “Fuck.”

  Runo walked over to the Ship Master’s pod and checked the reading on the side of the tube. Everything was within normal parameters. Life support was fully functional, and nothing was amiss. Runo checked the other three pods and got the same result. They were all working fine. The rest of her crew was alive but stuck in stasis.

  Sitting on the rim of her opened pod, Runo considered the facts and her options. She knew the Gauloi was dead in space, that much was certain, and in an unexplored system. There was a hull breach on J-Hold, and some of the internal monitors and trackers were off-line. Lastly, a spacecraft of unknown origin was lodged in the side of the Gauloi.

  Looking around the room she was in, she sniffed at the air, it was still stale.

  “Why did my drink taste like nothing?” She asked out loud.

  Looking up at the rooms comms system, she half expected Central to respond, but it remained silent.

  “Central, run self-diagnostic.”

  “Running.” The voice replied.

  Shaking her head, Runo moved down to the ground and started stretching. She was still tight from stasis, and if the report was accurate, she had been on the ship for roughly one-hundred and ninety years. That made her feel old. Really fucking old.

  It took almost ten minutes, but when the Central came back, it didn’t have good news.

  “Functioning at sixty percent efficiency.”

  Right. Focus.

  Central is off its game, and the Ship Master is incapacitated, that puts you in command.

  “Central.”

  Runo continued to stretch, looking up at the drab coloured ceiling that had required a good scrub since she had joined the crew.

  “Central, send distress call to Nadolo Prime.”

  “Please code-in.”

  “Runo, Sierra Whisky one-two.”

  If they had any luck, the message would reach Imperial services on Nadolo in nine days, then only a few days after that, a ship from Reach Guard would jump out to their position and rescue them.

  There were a few hiccups to that plan, Runo remembered. Her history was a little rusty, but if memory served her correct, Emperor Pysa had decreed that the Reach would stay fixed in place. Meaning no ships were allowed to travel past the boundaries of the listed Imperial lines. The Reach, or border of the Empire, had been in existence for millennia. It was that thin line on space charts that said where the unknown began. Whether or not that would have an impact on their being rescued, she wasn’t sure, but it didn’t give her hope.

  In all her time in the merchant navy, Runo had never gone anywhere remotely close to the Reach. The Gauloi was a handi-max, making it ideal for short hops, able to load and unload her cargo quickly. Capable of carrying everything from paying passengers and livestock in stasis to pallets of anything they could fit aboard. The ship was fast, and good at getting in and out of tight ports that larger ships would never have squeezed into. She was even able to surface-land at undeveloped sites.

  All in all, the Gauloi was a versatile ship that had served in the Etelainen years before Runo had joined the crew. Since then they had expanded their cruises into the Core and even into the Pohjois, the newest named territory of the Empire, but in all the trips and voyages, one thing had been a constant, the ships ability to deliver cargo to its destination on time.

  Pushing herself up from the floor, Runo smoothed down her jumpsuit.

  “Almost two-hundred years late won’t hurt our rating.” She shook her head.

  “Transmission to Nadolo Prime dispatched.” She was informed.

  Looking back at the four stasis pods, Runo scratched the back of her neck, then headed out the door.

  Time to check J-Hold. Whatever was going on there probably represented the biggest threat to the ship.

  She wasn’t looking forward to that.

  The Gauloi was a specially built ship. Custom designed and custom-built in the Gin-Sable Heavy Industries docks floating above Radeon Pum Tar 2. When the docks were in full swing, a buyer could order a ship of varying design built around modular designs, allowing each buyer the chance to have a vessel constructed to their individual needs.

  When the Gauloi was ordered, it was one of the first ten ships ordered by the corporation, once a small inter-system freight company, the corporation had grown into a top one-hundred freight company for the Empire. Built as a handi-max, the Gauloi was unique among the ships that Runo had seen since she had joined the merchant navy.

  At 170 metres long, the Gauloi had a five-deck central core that led to six cargo arms that stretched out aft of the main body. The arms were the cargo holds, each hinged, to be moved when loading or offloading supplies. When in flight, the arms would all return to their extended and locked position. At the end of each arm was a single engine, providing just over sixteen percent thrust when travelling at sub-light speeds.

  The central hull of the Gauloi contained all the flight systems, medical, crew quarters, and most importantly, the jump-drives. At the rear of the central section, on Deck 3, there were six hatches spaced out evenly, offering access to the six arms that protruded from the back of the ship.

  Making her way down two flights of stairs from the top deck of the ship, Runo watched as automatic lighting illuminated her path, not exactly creating an inviting atmosphere among the rusted walls and exposed piping that lined the halls and corridors of the ship.

  The soles of her boots made no noise as she made her way through the ship, but the Gauloi let her know that it was alive. Even if the jump drive and the engines were off-line, there was a constant hum. The noise when the lighting flickered on. A swish of fluids running down a pipe. The crackle of pipes carrying near-freezing coolant to another part of the ship. If the Gauloi had really been gone from AnBarn Central for almost two-hundred years, she was still operating well.

  Reaching Deck 3, Runo stopped at the terminal at the stairwell landing and flipped the access panel up, revealing a barely illuminated control board.

  “What do we have here?”

  The terminal kept flickering, so Runo pulled a mini-power stick from her tool belt, and placed it on top of the terminal, allowing it to draw power from the portable device. As more energy was drawn, the lighting on the terminal became brighter, and the systems started to display accurate, timely data.

  “Thank you.” Runo said, scanning the information on display, line by line.

  The first thing she checked was that the six arms of the ship were in their correct, extended, and locked positions. While the position of the arms had no impact on the space-worthiness of the vessel, it would give her an idea if the impact on J-Hold had been enough to shunt the arm out of place. It appeared that everything was in place, and without giving it a second thought, Runo carried on with the rest of her checks.

  The information was promising. Deck 3 was intact, and the seals to the six storage arms were still in place. Powering up the rest of the level, and bringing up the lighting, Runo pocketed her portable power stick and closed the facing of the terminal.

  Looking over at the six hatches, spread out over fifty metres, Runo could visually verify that they were all sealed, and from her position, in good working order. The hatches were circular in design and had a ten-metre radius. While not used to get the cargo on or off the ship, they were used occasionally to load passengers, such as the engineers and miners in the J-Hold.

  Runo decided to start with the hatch on the left, G-Hold, which like the other five storage appendages of the Gauloi, was full. As the Ship Master had told her on her first day aboard, the Gauloi never moves without a full load. Of course, that was just bluster, but the
company had been very good at ensuring that the ship was as full as possible as often as possible. As a Handi, the Gauloi was able to load and unload by herself, no need for massive infrastructure, or port facilities.

  Reaching the G-Hold hatch, Runo entered her access code and stepped back, allowing the hatch to open, revealing a one-hundred-metre long chamber that was pitch black. Stepping into the hold, Runo activated the lighting and picked up a datapad that was attached the inside wall, turning it on. Within seconds, the pad was showing her status on all the cargo inside the hold, just over eight-hundred stasis pods lining much of the wall, ceiling and flooring on the left-hand side of the hold.

  The pods themselves, each two metres long and half a metre wide emitted a faint white glow from inside the transparent covers where their cargo was securely kept asleep. Green lights on the sides of all the pods indicated that they were still functioning. Checking the datapad, Runo verified that all the systems were operating within safety parameters. Satisfied that the conditions in the hold met transport protocols, Runo powered off the data, returned it to the wall, then killed the lights in the long appendage.

  The reading put a smile on her face. She started to think that maybe some of the failures that were occurring elsewhere on the ship were leaving the cargo sections alone, because while losing cargo was always frowned upon, losing living cargo could ruin a ship’s and a company’s reputation.

  Closing the hatch behind her, Runo checked the outside control panel, everything was reading within acceptable guidelines. Moving on to H-Hold, Runo opened the hatch, entered, checked the readings, then repeated the same drill with I, K, and L holds. All of them checked out. She knew that J-Hold was in trouble, so she left it for last.

  Walking towards the J-Hold hatch, she gave it a final glance as she moved over to the hazardous suit locker, and pulled on a fresh suit, and helmet. Checking that oxygen was flowing, Runo attached a utility belt and walked towards the hatch. She wasn’t sure that she’d need the suit, but if the air inside the chamber was compromised, or whatever had impacted with the hull had affected the conditions inside the hold, then she knew that playing it safe was the best option. Looking around Deck 3, she suddenly realised that if she opened the hatch to J-Hold, there was a chance that whatever contaminants maybe inside could pose a threat.

  Standing in between the suit locker and the hatch, she paused and considered her options. Runo knew that she had to inspect the hold for damage, but not at the risk of the rest of the ship.

  ‘BANG!’

  Startled, Runo jumped away from the J-Hold hatch.

  A series of hard knocks continued to rain down on the door from the inside of the compartment.

  Runo froze in the middle of the deck. Her head wasn’t turned towards the J deck hatch, but her eyes were fixed on it. Her mouth was open, and her heart was racing. There shouldn’t be anything moving inside J-Hold. All the passengers in the compartment were supposed to be in stasis.

  That ship lodged in the side of the hull.

  That had to be behind the noise. Whatever it was, it must have brought something onto the ship. Dashing towards the hatch, Runo tapped the access pad and brought up the internal cameras for the hold, but the screen was blank.

  Slowing her breathing, Runo took a step backwards and checked that all the seals on the hatch were intact. They were. Nothing was getting through the hatch without heavy cutters. Taking another few steps back from the hatch, Runo double-checked that her hazardous environment suit was sealed and still operating correctly.

  ‘BANG!’

  The banging continued from the other side of the hatch, but instead of the random clangs that she was hearing, knocks were having more of a rhythmic sense about them, and then it hit her, they were using code with each blow.

  “What?” Her eyes darted around Deck 3.

  There wasn’t supposed to be anyone inside J-Hold outside of stasis. If there were miners out of stasis, how’d they get there? Had there been a malfunction with their cryo-pods? Anything could have happened after nearly two-hundred years, even if Runo was having difficulty accepting that the ship had been out of port for that long.

  Focus.

  No one used code to communicate anymore, but it was still taught to two types of people in training: spacefarers and the military.

  Listening to the strikes on the other side of the hatch, it didn’t take her long to recognise the code.

  HELP.

  If she opened the hatch, it could compromise the ship, but if she didn’t, whoever was on the other side would surely die. There were no food or water dispensers in the cargo holds. Running over to the access point to that connected Deck 3 with the rest of the ship, Runo closed the hatch, locking it with her security code, then jogged back to the J-Hold hatch.

  Reaching the access panel, she entered her code and stepped back as the hatch swivelled open.

  As it opened, Runo watched six half-dressed figures emerge from the cargo hold. Five of them collapsed to the ground just inside Deck 3 while a single woman kept staggering towards Runo.

  “Close it,” she said in a weak voice. “Close the hatch.”

  Runo stepped around the woman, picked her way past the five figures that were laying on the ground, and peered into J-Hold. It was almost totally blacked-out save for a faint blue glow halfway down the chamber where the object was supposed to be lodged into the side of the ship.

  Runo couldn’t see any of the stasis pods inside the hold, just the figures stumbling towards her.

  “Close it.” The woman repeated.

  Runo walked over to the access panel, and just as she tapped the controls to shut the hatch, she spotted a pair of skeletal figures just to the side of the entrance. As the door closed, Runo focused on the couple. Their jumpsuits looked in good order, but their bodies had been reduced to nothing more than bones.

  “Wait!” A single call came from inside J-Hold just as the chamber sealed itself.

  Blinking a few times, Runo looked at the control panel, then at the woman who was standing still in the middle of Deck 3.

  “Don’t.” The woman said in a weak voice, then collapsed inside the hold.

  The hatch shut, and Runo automatically checked the environmental monitors on her Haz-Mat suit. The conditions appeared to be green, and once she was confident that the rest of the Gauloi hadn’t been compromised, she looked at the six figures sprawled out on the floor of Deck 3. There were three males and three women.

  Grabbing a med-kit, Runo went to the woman that had spoken to her first and quickly ran a hasty bio-scan. The results came back quickly, indicated that the woman was suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration.

  Looking through the med-kit, a collection of bandages, ointments and pills that weren’t up to scratch, she pulled out a syringe labelled ‘vitamin/nutrient blend’ and jabbed it into the woman’s arm, pumping the entire contents in. Once the needle was empty, she tossed it to the side and moved over to the next figure. It was the same story. Severe malnutrition and dehydration. After administering a further five shots of the cocktail, Runo got up and walked away from the bodies that were still lying on the ground.

  Sitting down against the wall, Runo looked at the six figures, trying to decide her next move. Several questions were running around in her head. Who were these people? How did they get out of their stasis pods? Why were they in such bad shape? Who was the woman in J-Hold, and what was the blue mist at the end of the cargo compartment?

  Racking her brain, Runo tried to put the pieces together.

  The Gauloi had left AnBarn Central. On the way to wherever they were now, it had encountered something that had become lodged in the side of J-Hold. Now it seemed that there were people up and out of stasis in J-Hold and have been there for an undetermined amount of time.

  Lots of unanswered questions.

  Looking at the six figures on the ground, Runo considered her options. Locking them in a room didn’t seem practical or really possible. She’d have tro
uble dragging them to the closest storage room where she could secure them. She just didn’t want them wandering around the ship.

  Information is what she needed. Information on what was happening inside of J-Hold. These six could provide her with that intel, but while she waited, she thought it best to update the company and get their appreciation of the situation, even if that message would take several days to reach headquarters.

  Standing up, Runo glanced at the six figures laying on the ground and decided that they weren’t going anywhere any time soon. Walking off Deck 3, she made sure to secure the hatch after her, then made her way back to the bridge. It was just the way she had left it, and she quickly sat down in her seat, bringing up the communications suite.

  “Central, compose a message to the company.”

  A single chirp acknowledged her request.

  “Message begins, this is Flying Officer Runo of the Gauloi. Status: multiple system failures, including engines and jump-drives. The primary crew still in stasis. Have recovered six persons from J-Hold cargo. Administered medical treatment. Something is lodged in the side of the ship, unknown at this time. Planning on investigating further. Will send updates when available.”

  She ended the message and confirmed it was transmitted. She wasn’t happy sending a constant stream of bad news to her company, but the sooner she got orders, the faster she’d be able to take action regardless of the distress call she sent.

  Leaning back in the chair, Runo unfastened her helmet, took it off, and set it on the seat to her side.

  “What to do?”

  Looking up towards the main viewscreen in front of the Ship Master’s position, she noticed that the planet that was directly in front of the ship looked larger.

  “Central, distance to the unidentified world?”

  “Distance 276,093 kilometres.”

  “Central, are we getting closer to the planet?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Central, why?”

  “Unknown.”

  “Central, confirm engine and thrust status.”

  “Off-line.”

  “Central, are we in the planet's gravity?”