Values

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. In the vacuum of space, a scream is held in your helmet. In a tin can grinding through dark matter a scream is welcomed. The constant churning of space can get monotonous. A sound of action, of any kind, would take the crews collective mind off the sound of the ship laboring toward its destination. A loud clang from the ship’s exterior caused the crew to raise their heads towards the direction of the sound.

"What was that?" Captain Roberta (Bobbi) Duran asked, pulling her eyes away from the ship to look at her navigations officer.

"Looks like some debris cap." Hector (Chuco) Vasquez responded while tapping his console screen.

"Debris from what?" Louise (Weezy) Proctor, Bobbi's second in command asked while viewing her own console.

Chuco tapped at his screen a few more times before responding. "Looks like the remains of a ship." He tapped the console screen a few more times. "I already scanned for any remaining threats in the area Cap."

"Good, glad I don't have to worry about some ass running up my skirt." Bobbi pushed a button on her own monitor causing the ship to pull out of hyperdrive.

Chuco chuckled at the captain's wordplay before informing Bobbi of something even more interesting. "There's something or someone alive in that debris Captain."

"Ugh. Galactic code of scavenging; any survivor on a derelict vessel is entitled to the profits from said vessel." Weezy droned out, as if the code book was right in front of her.

"I am aware Weez. Let's just see what kind of salvage we're talking before we start discussing survivors." Bobbi joked.

“Bobbi!” Her first mate and navigations officer yelled at the same time.

‘Joking. It was just a joke.” She pressed two toggles on her console. “Bring it up on screen.”

Chuco did as instructed. The blackness surrounding their ship came into stark contrast.

“Looks like it’s the remains of a freighter class ship.” Chuco swiped right on his screen. “A class.”

Weezy whistled while Bobbi groaned.

“A class…We’ll barely break even for this trip with an A class ship.” Bobbi enters a few more instructions on her console. The ship moves closer to the green pulsing dot on her screen that represents the life form.

The ship’s forward thrusters began to flare for a few seconds, slowing the ship more. A small circular section of the ship slides away and a white ball floats out toward the location indicated by Chuco’s scan. A horizontal crease appears on the side of the ball, and a blue wave of light arcs over the area several times before the crease closes and the ball returns to the vessel.

Chuco reviewed the information he received from the scanners.

“It appears to be human.” Chuco relayed to the cockpit crew. He swiped the screen up then selected the blinking grey button on the screen. The button turned green then the sound of something large detaching from the ship bumped from beneath them.

“ORB on track, five seconds to contact.” Chuco said while sliding two fingers across the console.

“What do you think happened here Bobbi?” Weezy scanned her own console again, hoping they would be able to salvage the ship and its contents without issue. She really didn’t care if this job was lucrative, but her captain did and that was all that mattered to her.

“I don’t know Weez.” Bobbi said absently, her eyes glued to the retrieval process and the figure now in the grasp of the Orbital retrieval bot. “Be careful with her Chuco. I’m hoping that she is zonked, but I don’t want us to be her killers.”

“Affirmative captain, package is secure.” Chuco slid his hand from one side of the console screen to the other. “ORB moving survivor to the medical bay.”

Bobbi pushed her chair away from the console. “Chuco man the stations. Weezy you’re with me.”

Bobbi checked her weapon before turning to Weezy. Who followed suit, with a weapons check.

“We’re hoping for comatose, but we aren’t making it so.” Weezy nodded at her captain’s cautioning.

They turned to the medical bay door; a chime sounded as the door slid open. The survivor laid prone on the bed in front of them, a thin white sheet covering her naked body.

Bobbi circled the body before stopping on one side. “Computer, what’s the status of the patient?” Another blue wave ran from the survivor’s head to her toes then repeated the process. After a few minutes the computer relayed the info to those in the medical bay.

“Survivor is female, human, 32 years of age. There are no external injuries but there are several legions in the lungs. Signs shown of massive hemorrhage to the cerebral cortex.”

There was a loud whirring sound in the medical bay as servos fired. The computer was silent for a moment more then informed the crew in the room of its results.

“I was able to stem the bleeding, but the patient will be unconscious for some time.”

“Perfect!” Bobbi said slamming one hand down on her side of the hospital bed. “What do we do now?”

“There’s something in her hand Bobbi.” Weezy said prying whatever the object was from the survivor’s deathlike grip.

“It appears to be a record of the ships log.” The computer answered before either person could ask. “Scanning files…this is Corporal Margaret Stenson, lead scientific on the horizon effect study. We have successfully secured a supernova and will begin our study of its properties. All studies show that the containment field is stable. There has been no damage to the ship in securing the black hole. Our plan worked.”

“Computer pause recording…” Bobbi’s legs felt like rubber. She needed to take a seat but felt that turning to find one would cause her to lose the meal she had this morning. It would be no great loss there, Neno’s cooking was atrocious, but she didn’t think vomiting would go over well with her second. Taking a breath, she composed herself.

“Did I hear what I think I just heard?” She almost whispered.

Weezy nodded, herself dealing with the nauseating truth that they’d just stumbled upon.

“What happened to that ship?” Bobbi asked staring directly into her seconds eyes.