Capital G Geek

I have completed the 50,000 words of NaNoWriMo for 2007. My book, however isn’t quite finished yet. Truth be known, I am nearly finished with point 3 of my 11 point outline. I’ve gotten this far, so I feel the need to keep going until it is complete.

I haven’t gotten together another excerpt yet, so until I do, bask in the glow of my new (read ONLY) blog badge.

Here is the next installment of my NaNoWriMo project.   Hope you enjoy it.  This passage occurs immediately after informing the crew that life existed on the 4th planet.

Jamison went directly to the bridge.  Because of the all-hands meeting, the ship was running with minimal crew.  He opted to give the crew a little while to come to terms with the announcement before requiring too much from them.  The ship was maintaining its orbit, and there was very little to do at this point.

*** secondary storyline removed for readability ***
‘Are you here to relieve me, ensign?’ Jamison asked
‘Yes sir.’
‘Then I stand relieved.  The ship is yours.  We are currently maintaining solar orbit with no difficulties.  All systems reporting within tolerance.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘Ensign, since you were one of the ‘inner circle’ so to speak, for the last 48 hours, have you had to answer any unusual questions?’
‘Surprisingly not, sir.  The current rumor factory seems to be concentrating on whether the aliens are reptiles, insects, or mammals.’
‘Well, what do you think?’
‘I enjoy playing devil’s advocate, sir.  I told them that I think they were probably some kind of aquatic creatures.’
‘Any bites, ensign?’
‘Of course, especially when I explained that their higher gravity would favor a species in the water, where the bouyancy could lead to the evolution of larger creatures than would be possible on land.  That also explained why we haven’t detected any manned space vehicles – assuming manned is the proper term.’
‘That was evil, ensign.  I like it.  Were you picturing some kind of mermaid, or something else?’
‘I wasn’t asked, but I think I would have to go with some kind of tentacled creature.  It would be much more interesting that way.’
‘Just don’t cross the line between speculation and knowledge.  You could get yourself in trouble that way.  I’m heading to engineering to see how the progress on our stealth probe is coming along’

Jamison arrived in engineering, but it still was minimally staffed.
‘Crewman, has commander West returned yet?’
‘Yes, sir.  They are all in the pod bay, working on the probe.’
‘Carry on, crewman’ said Jamison as he turned to leave.
‘Sir?’
‘What is it, crewman’
‘What do you think the aliens are like?’
‘I really have no idea.  We’ll know more once the probe gets close to the planet.  I just hope they don’t want to eat us.’
‘You must have seen the same vids I did as a kid, sir.’
‘Judging by your age, they weren’t the same ones.  But the stories probably haven’t changed all that much.  I just hope that if we determine that they are safe, that HQ allows us to contact them instead of sending some diplomatic ship.’
‘Do you really think that they would do that?’
‘It’s a possibility.  Unfortunately, the way I see it, the more likely they are to be a threat to earth, the more likely HQ is to allow us to make contact.
‘Why’s that, sir?’
‘If our probe shows that they are just barely technical, or significaltly behind, then obviously they are not a threat.  We haven’t invested much, and HQ can easily send someone else.  On the other hand, if they are technically advanced with space flight, then it will take us a lot longer to determine their danger.  We will probably have to learn their language, and therefore HQ couldn’t easily send someone else to make contact.’
‘Oh, I see.  What level would you guess that they are?’
‘It’s way too early to tell.  I think they fall somewhere inbetween.  They have satellites, and appear to have reached at least their closest neighbor with automated probes.  It will be a tough call.’
‘It’s still your call, isn’t it Captain?’
‘At this point, yes.  It is.  Is there anything else, crewman, or can I check on the probe progress now?’
‘Sorry, sir.  I didn’t mean to detain you.’
‘Not a problem crewman.  I understand that this is probably the most shocking news any one of us has ever received.’  and with that, Jamison left engineering and went to the pod bay.
The pod bay was buzzing with activity.  The two shuttle pods had been moved as far out of the way as possible.  What appeared to be a kidney shaped meteor about 3 meters long was sitting in a modified pod cradle.
‘Is that our probe?’ Jamison asked.  ‘It definately looks natural’
‘It certainly is’ said West, proudly.  ‘Watch this.’  He pushed a button on a mobile console, and the meteor opened up, revealing a standard probe inside.
‘That’s amazing.  How did you do it so fast?’
‘We used the packaging container from the probes for the base.  One team was modifying the probe, while another camoflauged the casing.’
‘It looks quite real.  What did you make the camoflauge with?’
‘It’s the hull patch compound.  We mixed some rocks and minerals with it, and tinted it to match what exists in this system.  Not only is it visually accurate, it’s looks like a meteor on quite a few of our scanners also.’
‘Incredible.  Will it’s thrusters still work?’
‘Yes, these are the thruster ports.  They look like impact craters, but really they’re the thruster exhausts.  We ran some ducting to them.  The probe’s navigation system had to be adjusted to take the different thruster location into account, and I’d like to test it before we send it away.  It should be ready to go tomorrow.’
‘Mr West, your team never ceases to amaze me.  Have you heard how astrometrics is coming on plotting the trajectory for the probe?’
‘No, sir.  I asked earlier, but all I got was that they were having problems between gravity wells.’
‘Well, since you have everything well in hand here, I guess I’ll check with them.’ said Jamison as he walked out.
David was in the corridor as Jamison stepped into it.
‘Captain!’ he said ‘This didn’t seem like anything at the time, but given the new information, it may mean something’
‘What is it?’ Jamison asked.
‘Well, when we were doing the survey on the 6th planet, there was something that struck me as odd.  Nothing impossible, really.  Just somewhat odd.’
‘David, I’m somewhat pressed for time right now.’
‘Right, well there was this deposit on the surface.  It was a very small deposit, but it was nearly pure.  A few different minerals – copper, aluminum, titanium.  Not unusual per se, but they were very small, and very pure.  Do you think that it may have been from the aliens?’
‘You found … you found refined materials on your survey?  And you didn’t tell me?  And you wonder now if it is important?’  Jamison had turned red, and was struggling to control his temper.
‘Well, I didn’t know that it was important.  I just thought it was unusual.’
‘IMPOSSIBLE you mean’ Jamison was nearly shouting, and quickly lowered his voice.  ‘Refined materials don’t naturally occur.  What you found was remnants of a probe that crashed on that planet.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t realize you would be so upset…’
‘Mr Whittaker.  Upset doesn’t accurately describe my condition.  You found an alien device that we could have learned quite a bit from, and chose to ignore it.  I …  I’  Jamison stammered.
‘Again, I’m sorry that I didn’t report it sooner, but..’
‘Mr Whittaker, please send ALL, and I do mean ALL the planetary scans of that artifact, and surrounding area to both engineering and astrometrics immediately.’  Jamison turned and walked off.
‘Of course, captain.  Again, I’m sorry…’ Whittaker said to his back.

I’m really starting to roll here. I wrote more than 2500 words today, and could continue for quite a while more.
I’m also back to a recognizable place in my outline, which is a good thing, too.

Mess that evening was uneventful. Jamison briefly mentioned that they had had a problem with the blackbody radiators, but that it had been corrected. The main topic was from engineering again, about the installation of the meteor scanners and casimir beam system. Commander West faltered for a moment when he got to the part where they normally would have tested them. Jamison interrupted, excusing him since they had such other critical work with the computer core heating up. After mess, they went directly to Jamison’s office.
They were in the office with the door closed, and Jamison was just sitting down when Commander West said ‘Uh, sir…..’ and looked at Lt Barlow.
‘That’s ok, Mr West. Security is part of services, and Mr Barlow is head of services. Under the circumstances, I feel that he should be aware.’ A look of relief appeared on everyone’s face around the room.
‘Mrs. Yu, Will you please bring Mr Barlow up to date.’
‘Well, when the astrometrics software was updated, the system identified a pulsar in the position that the third planet was in. We were going to scan it more thoroughly, but were behind the sun doing the survey. When we came out from behind the sun, the planet was still identified as a pulsar by the system. I analyzed the’
‘Hurry up, why don’t you.’ said Doc Flores
‘Sorry, doc’ said Yu. ‘Anyway, we picked up a signal from the planet that is not a natural phenomenon’
‘You mean..’ said Barlow
‘Yes, Mr Barlow. We are operating under the assumption, backed up by fairly strong evidence, that there is an intelligent species on that planet.’ said Jamison.
‘Wow. That’s… That’s…’ stammered Barlow
‘We know. It has taken some time to get used to. Everyone here has known for a little under 24 hours. We will be informing the crew tomorrow after mess. Until then, this is code black. Do you understand?’
‘Wow. Uh… Of course, sir. Code black.’ said Barlow
‘Good’ said Jamison. ‘It has been a bunch of waiting, and a little watching for too long now. There are a few things to go over before we tell the crew tomorrow. We need to determine if they are a danger to earth. In order to do that, we need to get a better look at that planet without exposing ourselves. I need options.’
‘Uh, sir?’ said Barlow. ‘Has HQ been notified yet?’
‘No. The regulations say no communication with Earth until we have determined that they are not a threat, or we have successfully evaded detection.’ replied Jamison.
‘But what about the q-comm? Doesn’t that run all the time? That’s point to point, and impossible to intercept, right?’ said Barlow.
‘Mr Barlow brings up a very good point.’ Jamison said. ‘We need to decide what we are to do about that now. I’m not sure that I know enough about the technology to make that decision on my own, so do you have thoughts? Mr Barlow?’
‘The q-comm is quantum based. I don’t see how anyone could possibly intercept any kind of transmission from it’
‘Just because it hasn’t been done yet, doesn’t mean that it is impossible. I take it that you would recommend notifying HQ?’
‘Yes, sir. I believe that there would be no risk. I’m no engineer though.’ Barlow looked at West
‘Mr West, your thoughts?’
‘I think that the liklihood of anyone being able to intercept it is nearly zero. We certainly can’t. I recommend using it.’
‘Mrs Yu?’
‘Just because we don’t know the mechanism that it works on, and can’t intercept it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. It may not even be difficult. We just don’t know. I don’t think we should use it.’
‘Doctor?’
‘I don’t know much about quantum mechanics. I do know that everything in the past that was thought to be secure has been intercepted or broken in one way or another. Looking back, it should have been obvious that it was possible. I recommend against using it.’
‘Ensign Ramirez?’
‘Absolutely not. We didn’t used to know how gravity worked. Now we can trace it easily. We didn’t know how foldspace worked, and we can trace that as well. For the q-comm to transfer information from here to HQ there has to be a medium of some sort. Just because we don’t understand it doesn’t mean it’s not there.’
‘Mr West, can you guarantee that the data sent between our q-comm and HQ can not be detected by the life forms on the 4th planet?’
‘I’m 99% certain that it can not. If you are asking for 100%, then no, I can’t guarantee it.’
‘Potentially earth and the entire human race’s very existance is at stake. I don’t think it unreasonable to request 100% certainty. Do any of you?’
Heads shook negatively all around.
‘Very well. It is decided that the q-comm will be shut down. That action alone could cause HQ to launch a search and rescue mission, so we must be sure that they don’t. Mr West, when we are finished here, I want you to set the q-comm to ship priority and send the single word LIFE. Then disconnect all power to it. Any comments?’
Again heads shook negatively.
‘Good. Now for more interesting things. How do we get a better look at that planet without being detected?’
‘Could we hide in the asteroids?’ said Barlow
‘We could, but that wouldn’t help any’ said Yu
‘Can you explain that, Mrs Yu’ said Jamison. ‘I was contemplating the same thing.’
‘Looking at that planet from a point at any great distance isn’t going to get us the information that we want. All we’d be able to detect from there would be the same kind of intermittent signals that we already know about. I’m not sure that we’d ever be able to decipher them only getting 3 minutes of transmission every 37 hours.’
‘Well, what would we need?’ asked Jamison
‘We need to be close enough to pick up their ground based transmissions. If earth is any guide, that’s pretty close. Most of our radio signals are reflected back by the ionosphere. Or, and I don’t know how we’d be able to do it undetected, we’d have to be in orbit above one of their satellite transmission sites.’
‘If we were to orbit the planet, we would be visible to anyone with a pair of binoculars. Probably without binoculars at night’ said West.
‘Assuming they have two eyes.’ mumbled Dr Flores
‘What was that, Dr Flores?’
‘I said assuming that they have two eyes. They wouldn’t need binoculars if they don’t have eyes, or trinoculars if they have 3.’
‘Unless they have eyes on the end of stalks, like crabs do?’ said Barlow
‘Gentlemen, this is very interesting, and there is a time for discussing the possible appearance of these … creatures, but now is not it. How do we get more data about them?’ said Jamison
‘Sorry’ said Dr Flores. ‘Couldn’t we disguise the ship to look like an asteroid or something’
‘Doctor, this ship is over 150 meters long, 90 meters wide, and about 45 meters high, shaped like a flattened cone. I’ve never seen an asteroid that looked like that. And even if we did, an asteroid of that size would be destroyed as a threat before it even got close, or it would at earth. And then there’s the problem of our sensors being in the tail. Asteroids tumble, and we wouldn’t. And our trajectory would be definately un-asteroid like. We’d have to accelerate and decelerate to get there. And…’
‘Wait, I’ve got an idea’ said West. ‘Not us, but we could disguise a probe to look like an asteroid.’
‘Could you get it there without arousing suspicion? Would it be able to collect the information that we need? How would it communicate with us without being detected?’ said Jamison
‘I don’t think that getting it there would be a problem, captain.’ said Ramirez. ‘If we want it to look natural, we just need to calculate its initial trajectory so that it winds up in orbit above one of those satellites. It might be tricky, but not impossible. We shouldn’t need to make any course corrections along the way at all.’
‘Communication wouldn’t be a problem, captain. The probe uses the old grav-com system. It’s instantaneous within the sun’s gravity well. We can pick it up easily, and it’s omnidirectional, so if it is discovered it couldn’t be traced to the receiver.’ said West.
‘Judging by what I’ve seen, the planet doesn’t use any gravity technology. Their satellites are in decaying orbits.’ said Yu
‘So we would be able to communicate with it as well? Issue commands?’ said Dr Flores
‘What kind of command would you want to send it – assuming it is in the correct position?’ said West. ‘And if it wasn’t, manouvering it could easily arouse suspicion.’
‘How about minor course corrections while it was on route?’ asked Jamison
‘I suppose we could – if they were small enough, and it was still far enough from the planet.’
‘I like that’ said Jamison. ‘I like that a lot. You may begin planning for the probe, but don’t do anything that would arouse suspicion. We can work on it openly, and with assistance tomorrow. Is there anything else that we need to discuss today?’
‘One thing, sir’ said West. ‘My crew has been chomping at the bit to work on the meteor detection system that they put in place. I have held them off, but I don’t think it will last through tomorow. And I think I would like to have it running, just in case…’
‘In case they are hostile? That’s not a bad idea. I’m not aware of the specifics, but does it emit anything that could possibly be detected by that planet?’
‘Possibly again, sir?’ said West. ‘Because of the distance, and relatively low power of the emitter, and the interference from the sun, I’m 99% confident that they can’t pick it up. I couldn’t pick it up under these conditions if I were there.’
‘Mr West, in this case, I think that 99% certainty is acceptable. You may test. I’d suggest starting at the lowest power possible and be careful of your aim, just in case.’ said Jamison.
‘If there’s nothing else pressing?’ Jamison looked around. ‘Very well, then. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Mr Barlow, if you could remain a minute.’
‘Of course, sir’ said Barlow as the rest left.
‘Mr Barlow, I’m concerned about the announcement tomorrow. I think I can accurately predict how the ships crew will handle the news. I’m less certain about how the mining crew will take it. Especially when they realize that this could mean a significant delay in this system. I’m not expecting problems initially, but I really don’t know. I’d like you to have your security detail present at the meeting. It will be obvious that some will be at the front where Mr Reynolds is getting his medal. I would like others dispersed through the room, especially at the hatches.’
‘I understand, sir. I’ll have them ready.’
‘And Mr Barlow. I’d like them to be unnoticed. They should blend in unless there is a problem. After the announcement starting tomorrow during midrats, I’d like a security posted in key areas. The computer core, engineering, the bridge. I think a roving detail on each deck might suffice, but I’ll allow you to decide.’
‘Of course, sir. Um, what .. uh .. tools should I equip the men with?’
‘Weapons should not be necessary for tomorrow. The small contact-stuns should be sufficient, they’re easily concealed. For the roving patrols I think that the multi-function pistols should be adequate. If you feel it necessary to issue something larger, please let me know first.’
‘Thank you, sir. I’ll have everything ready.’
‘That may not be easy, considering this is still code black information.’ said Jamison
‘My men will follow my orders without an explanation, sir.’ said Barlow.
‘Yes, I’m sure they will. Very well, then. Until tomorrow, Mr Barlow’
Jamison was finally alone again. He had just scanned the ship’s status and was about to open the Venturer logs again when he got a call on his comm.’
‘Captain to the bridge’
Oh what now, he thought. ‘On my way’ he said to the comm before locking his console again.
When he arrived on the bridge, there was a flury of activity. ‘What’s going on?’ he demanded.
‘Sir, the q-comm just went offlne.’
‘Oh, that. Mr West is performing a diagnostic on it to make sure that it wasn’t damaged by the heat problems. It should be back online shortly unless he has to replace a component. He’ll let you know when it is available.’
Jamison left the bridge, went back to his quarters and called commander West to prepare him for the inevetable questions.

The 5th excerpt from my still untitled novel.  Hopefully this will appease my wife – for now, at least.

‘Ensign Ramirez, you have the bridge’ said Jamison as he walked out.
He stood outside the bridge trying to decide what he needed to do.  Should he go to astrometrics and observe the scan? No, they would work better without him in the way.  Engineering?  They were busy also.  Doc Flores?  He seemed to be the only one that Jamison could bounce ideas off of.  Finally he settled on hydroponics.  When he arrived, there was a foul odor – somewhat chemical, but also rotting and sour.  Specialist Peres walked over to him.
‘Sorry about the smell, it’s feeding time.  Can I help you with something, captain’
‘No, just checking up on things.’
‘If you’d like to check on things with less of an odor, we’ll be done feeding in an hour, and the smell will be gone before lunch.’
‘Thank you.  I think I may be back then.’  said Jamison as he left.
He thought for a minute, and walked to the services section.  When was the last time he had been there – it had been at least a month, or was it two.  Actually it had been two, when one of his uniforms had failed to come back from the laundry.  That was one of the sections that he didn’t regularly visit.  He’d have to rectify that.  All parts of this ship needed to function, even the ‘invisible’ ones like laundry and housekeeping.
Lt Barlow was there when he walked in.  ‘Mr Barlow’ he said.
Lt Barlow jumped to attention.  ‘Captain!  Is there another problem with your uniforms?  I thought I made it clear that yours were to be treated especially carefully.’ Barlow said nervously
‘No, noting like that.  One of your staff, Mr Reynolds, is being awarded for meritorious service.  Since he is in your department, I thought it fitting that you present it to him.’
‘Of course, sir.  I’d be honored.’ he stammered
‘And another thing’ Jamison continued ‘Your stewards also serve as security aboard.  Their services haven’t been needed in that capacity yet, but I would like you to make sure that they are keeping up their training in that area.  Halfway through the mission can be one of the problem times for crews.’
‘Really sir?  I will have additional training scheduled at once’
‘Don’t over-tax your men, Mr Barlow.  Adding some security training gradually should allow you to accommodate that without requiring additional hours.  It’s obvious that they are being managed efficiently, they are nearly invisible and yet everything in your domain continues to run flawlessly.  You should be proud of that.  It can be difficult to lead a group where the best recognition is that no one notices the work being done.  Ship services are like environmental controls, if it works right you aren’t aware of anything.  You seem to be handling it well, Mr Barlow.  Quite well.’
‘I’ll inform you of the schedule for the ceremony.  I expect that it will be tomorrow.’
‘Thank you sir.’
‘Mr Barlow, Mr Reynolds does not know about this yet.  I would prefer to keep it that way.’
‘Of course, sir.’
Jamison left the services section, and went back to his quarters.  He sat down and flipped on his console.  There was a message from command.  ‘Oh great, what now’ he thought.  The message was brief, the nomination for Reynolds to be awarded the Legion of Valor was deemed excessive given that his action didn’t place him in any additional danger to himself.  And that the danger to the ship was not critical, given the size of the breach.  His action was noteworthy, especially considering his position as cook, and therefore he was being awarded the Fleet Meritorious Service medal.
‘Ok’ Jamison thought.  He knew that the Legion of Valor was excessive, and that the Meritorious Service medal was appropriate.  He also knew, as all military men knew, that you always ask for more than you want, because then you just might get enough.  It had proven itself again with this.  Reynolds was undergoing treatment, maybe this would be too much for him to handle right now.  Bring up bad memories or something.  Jamison called the infirmary.
‘Flores here, Captain.’
‘Is Doc there, Alicia?’ Jamison asked
‘Just a minute.  Here he is.’
‘Flores here, Captain.’ Doc said
‘I know that Reynolds is recovering from the after-affects of that meteor strike, and wanted to run this by you first.  He has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, and I was planning on a ceremony for him tomorrow.  Will that be a problem for him?  I don’t want to remind him of something that you are trying to get him to forget or something…’
‘Thanks for asking me, Captain.  It will most definitely not be a problem, in fact it may do him some good.’
‘Thank you, Doctor.  Jamison out’
Alone again, he scanned his console and saw that they were running the full scan of the system.  He resisted the urge to call astrometrics to see how they were doing, and went back to his messages.  The Venturer logs beckoned him, called him, begged him to open them.  He did, and started reading.
Standard stuff for the bridge logs – course, speed, technical stuff which he skimmed over.  The personal logs were a different thing.  Captains put things in personal logs knowing that the crew would never have access to them.  Reynolds’s personal logs were mostly notes about the crew’s performance and interaction.  He was really pleased that the profiling had worked so well.  The crew seemed like a reunion of best friends from the first time that they got together for training.  He had personally selected his senior staff, which was normal.  He had taken great pride in the ship and its capabilities.  They had pushed the gravity drive to the limits setting the speed record for Jupiter and back – and had cheated like all the other previous record holders by using the gravitational pull of the planet to assist them.  The excitement and anxiety level of the crew climbed noticeably as they approached the outer edge of the solar system and their first foldspace jump.
Jamison was interrupted by a knock on his door.
‘Come in.’  It was Commander West.
‘What can I do for you, Mr West’ Jamison asked
West carefully shut the door.  ‘Sir, the computer core is starting to get warm.’
‘How warm, and how long until it is critical?’
‘Only a degree so far.  At the current rate, it will be about three hours before it starts affecting systems’
‘Any idea what’s causing it?’
‘Actually, we are.’
‘Explain’
‘The blackbody radiators are at the aft of the ship, port and starboard of the main sensors.  Excess heat from the ship is transferred through two sterling engines, and is radiated into space from them.  Sir, we’ve been pointing them at the sun for nearly an hour, and they can’t dissipate heat that way.’
‘I see.  So if we keep the sensors pointing at the only inhabited planet in the universe besides earth, we’re going to cook our computer.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘I hope you have a suggestion, commander’
‘If we aim the ship about ten degrees away from the sun, that should put one of the radiators in enough shadow to maintain cooling.  Either that, or orient the ship so that both radiators are in shadow for 15 minutes of every hour.’
‘I’ll check with astrometrics to see which option is better for them.  Can you over-cool the computer so that we have a longer time before we have to turn away?’
‘Yes, I can do that.  I’ll have to run a calculation on that, but I think that would make 10 minutes every hour – assuming that the radiators are in complete shadow.’
Jamison hit his comm ‘Jamison to Ensign Yu’
‘Astrometrics, Yu here sir’
‘We are having a heat issue with the sensors aimed nearly directly at the sun.  Would you get better data with a 10 degree offset, or would you prefer  a 10 minute rotation every hour’
‘A ten degree offset will be acceptable for now.  Captain, are you available?’
‘I’m in my quarters with commander West.  You can come if you like.’
‘I’m on my way.  Astrometrics out.’
‘I wonder what that’s about’ said West
‘I have no idea.’
‘Jamison to Bridge’ he hit the comm again
‘Bridge here captain’
‘Realign the ship by 10 degrees outboard from the sun.’
‘Aye sir, aligning 10 degrees starboard.  Course unchanged’
‘Thank you.  Jamison out’
There was a knock on the door.  ‘Come in’ Jamison said.
‘Do I need to call the rest of the group?’
‘No, sir.  Just you two.’
‘Ok, what is it Ensign?’ said Jamison.
‘First, our scans of other planets in the system didn’t reveal any sign that they had bases.  There are two artificial satellites orbiting the 3rd planet, but they don’t appear to be emitting anything.’
‘That’s good.  It is unlikely that they pose a threat to earth if they haven’t set up stations on other planets.  Please continue’
‘I’ve been going over the scans of that planet.  The emanations appear to be spaced in a pattern.  Three emanations 2 hours 18 minutes apart, and then nothing for 32 hours 22 minutes, then it starts again.’
‘What does that mean?’ asked West
‘That there are three satellites evenly spaced over a continent, and that their rotation period is 37 hours – assuming a synchronous orbit.’ said Ensign Yu
‘Wow.  You can tell all that by a few flashes?’ said West
‘Yes.  Assuming that the flashes are communications from the ground to satellites.’
‘Can we tell anything else?’ asked Jamison
‘Not much.  The corona that hides us from them also keeps us from seeing them clearly.’
‘I think I know what you’re going to suggest, and our priority right now is to remain concealed.  We will discuss other strategy after mess this evening.’ said Jamison
‘Ok captain.  That’s all I had.’ said Yu
‘Thank you, Ensign.’ Jamison said as ensign Yu left.  ‘Anything else, Mr West’
‘No sir.  I’ll monitor the temperature and let you know if that isn’t enough’
Commander West left, and Jamison returned to his console.  He started to open the Venturer logs when he realized that lunch would be over in 15 minutes.  ‘Where did the time go.’ he thought as he locked his console and left.  He was almost to the galley when David caught him.
‘Heading to lunch, captain?  Mind if I join you?’ David said
‘That’s fine, David.  How is the analysis of the last scan coming?’ he asked
‘Oh, just fine.  That palladium deposit isn’t quite as rich as I was hoping for, but the finders fee should build you another ship when we get back’
‘Thats great, but you know that I’m not eligible for it, since I’m military’ Jamison selected a salad that appeared to have more cheese and meat than lettuce ‘But they may build me another ship anyway’
‘Probably.  I asked Ensign Ramirez when we would be arriving at the next planet, and he directed me to you.’
‘Yes, of course’ Jamison had hoped to put this conversation off until tomorrow ‘Well…’ he thought quickly ‘ we’ve been having a problem with our heat radiators that was causing a problem and overheating our computer core.  We think that it’s been solved, but I’ll know more tomorrow.’  Jamison didn’t like lying, and didn’t think he did it well.  Hopefully he did it well enough, at least this once…
‘Ok.  Anything my crew can help with?’
‘No, that won’t be necessary.  Thanks anyway.’
‘We’re having another poker game tonight, care to join us?’
‘Thanks, but no.  I’ve played before, but…’ Jamison’s voice trailed off
‘You lost big time, didn’t you.  That’s enough to sour someone for a long time.  Still, you shouldn’t bet what you can’t afford to lose’  David said jovially
‘No, I didn’t lose.  I folded.’ he paused  ‘With nearly a month’s salary in the pot.’ he paused again ‘And I was holding a straight flush, Jack high.’
‘For heavens sake, man.  What ever possessed you to do that?’
‘I was a Lieutenant, playing with a bunch of Lieutenants, and the captain had been invited to the game.  He was a disagreeable man at the best of times.  At the end of the hand, he laid down two pair, Aces and Queens.’
‘And you decided that the month’s salary wasn’t worth the hassle of beating your captain?’
‘Exactly.  I’ll never put any of my crew in that position.  Ever.  Now, if you’d like to play the air combat simulator, which is entertainment without investment, you’re on.’  Jamison knew that David had played, but didn’t like it – probably because he wasn’t good at it.
‘To each his own, captain.  I can sure respect your motives though.  Let me know if we can help with that cooling problem’  David walked to the door and turned around. ‘I wouldn’t have folded that hand’ he said.
‘You didn’t know captain Kruger, or you just might have.’
Jamison finished his salad in peace and was heading back to his quarters, when he encountered Dwight in the corridor.  ‘Mr Reynolds, how are you doing’
‘Just fine, captain.  I’m on my way to see the doc right now.’
‘Good.  I have a request, if it isn’t too much trouble.’
‘Well, I’m limited with supplies, but I’ll see what I can do’ Reynolds replied
‘Scrapple’ Jamison said ‘I haven’t had scrapple in years.’
‘That’ll be a week or so.  I’ve allocated the corn meal that I have for cornbread to go with the chili.  That’s lunch tomorrow.’
‘Good.  I just ate, and I’m getting hungry again.  How about biscuits and gravy.’
‘Is tomorrow morning OK.  Just like mom used to make?’
‘My mother made lumpy gravy.’ Jamison joked  ‘Just like your mom used to make would probably be better.’
‘You shouldn’t talk about your mom’s gravy like that, sir.’
‘You never had to eat her gravy, Mr Reynolds.’
‘Well, I have an appointment with Doc Flores now.  I don’t want to be late’
‘Carry on, Mr Reynolds.  Thank you’
Jamison headed forward to his quarters, and Dwight entered the infirmary.

I still haven’t worked in Stromboli or  Chocolate-chip cookies, but I’m working on it.  

Here is another excerpt from my NaNoWriMo book.  It took quite a while, but I finally have pushed the characters back to my original (more or less) outline.   The 25000+ words that it took to get to this point are exactly 4 entries on my outline.  I now understand when some authors say that the characters  just ran away with the storyline.  I’m still not ready to give away too much detail of some of the juicy sub-plots, and at least one person won’t be happy that I didn’t include chocolate chip cookies yet…

 Jamison entered astrometrics.  Ensign Yu was on duty, and looked pale.
‘You don’t look well, ensign.  Perhaps you should go to the infirmary’
‘I may in a little while, sir.  First, you need to see this’
Ensign Yu handed him a neural headset, and Jamison sat down and put it on.  Immediately, he was surrounded by space.  Ensign Yu put her headset on, and appeared beside Jamison.
‘What are we looking for’ he asked
‘That’ she pointed to the system’s sun
‘It looks like a sun to me.  Is there something special I’m not seeing?’
‘Not the sun, the 4th planet.  You can just see it to the right of the sun.  There’ she pointed
‘OK.  I still am not sure…’
‘I’ll magnify it’
Immediately everything shifted and enlarged – like they shot directly towards the planet.  The sun took up everything on the left, and the planet was nearly the size of his fist.
‘OK, now watch.  I’m going to shift the time index back about an hour’  The image shifted slightly
‘Now, I’m going to play it forward at normal speed – you’re seeing both visual, and part of the EM spectrum right now’
The image began to shift again, and then the planet brightened.  Jamison could tell that it was the EM, and not visible brightness.  It appeared yellow.  It rapidly shifted colors, but stayed yellow at the same time – like the other colors were superimposed on the yellow.  After a minute of brightness, it faded again.
‘That was pretty.  What was it?’
‘I’m not sure.  It was in the far infrared range – almost microwave.  It happened twice before, both lasting a little more than a minute’
‘Could it be some kind or solar reflection?’  I ruled that out – the wavelength is wrong
‘What about interference from the sun – the angle is pretty close.’
‘Also ruled out.  There is no emission from the sun that could cause that.’
‘So that’s why the new sensor software picked it up as a pulsar.  Could it be a pulsar somewhere behind the planet?’
‘I don’t think so’
‘Zoom it in some more’ Jamison said
The image jumped again.  The planet was nearly a meter across, but the image was very pixelated.  ‘Is this at the highest resolution?’ Jamison asked
‘The highest we have without scanning again’
‘Play it again.’  the sequence occurred again yellow with other shifting colors ‘ Slow it down to half speed.’
It played at half speed.  ‘Half of that’
‘OH MY GOD’ Jamison exclaimed  ‘Did you see that – you can see the planet to the left of the spot, and it gradually brightens from the left, and fades out to the right.  DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS’
Jamison ripped off the neural headset, smashed the comm panel and screamed ‘GENERAL QUARTERS’
Ensign Yu said ‘Yes, I know exactly what it means’ to Jamison’s back as he sprinted down the corridor.

My book still is missing a title.  I don’t even have a working title for it, which is OK, since it’s not like I’ve written any others – ‘My book’ works for now.

I’ve deviated quite a bit from my original plotline.  I now have three distinct sub-plots, and haven’t even reached the main storyline in my outline yet.  I’m expecting that I will still get there, but who knows.  It seems to have taken twists and turns that I didn’t plan for.

I have also noticed that as I have developed the scenes, that the characters are becoming much more detailed – in my mind at least, if not on paper.  This scene isn’t important for any particular character, but it does give some more detail of the technical aspect of the universe that I’m creating.  And I’m not quite ready to give up any of the other things that have occurred between these scenes until I have a better idea of how they will be resolved.

Captain Jamison went to breakfast late – just as the galley was shutting down.  He settled for what was left on the buffet, french toast.  It was good, but not quite as good as before.  Did Reynolds make that much of a difference when he was cooking? he thought.  Not for french toast, he decided.  It must be because of the hour.  He ate quickly and made his normal rounds of the ship.  It was laundry day.  There was a distinct laundry-type odor in the air.  Not unpleasant by any stretch.  When he finally arrived at the bridge, preparations were already being made for entering planetary orbit.  The engineering teams were ready to launch the shuttle pod and begin repairs on the reflector, as well as patch the hull.  He had the ship placed in high orbit, which would give them the most time to fix the gravity reflector.  All external emitters, scanners, and thrusters were shut down and locked out for safety while anyone was outside the ship.
‘Bridge to engineering, We have achieved orbit, and have secured the gravity emitters.  The reflector is furled and ready for repair.
‘Roger that.  Pod1 is launching now.  Repair crew standing by in airlock 1′
The shuttle pod transported the replacement reflector to the end of the mast, but it had no means to actually complete the job.  Three engineers left through the forward airlock once the shuttle was in place, and quickly removed the damaged reflector, and replaced it with the new one.  Once they were safely back in the airlock, the shuttle disconnected itself from the mast and went back to the docking bay.  After everyone was secure inside the ship, the new reflector was unfurled and tested.
The bridge was interrupted by the comm: ‘Whittaker to Jamison, I need you to hold position over the planet so that we can start our deep scanning’
‘Mr Whittaker, we are currently conducting repairs externally that require all propulsion systems, thrusters, and emitters to be shut down.  I will keep you appraised as to our progress. Jamison out.’  Just for that, he should require a full external inspection – he wouldn’t mind waiting another day or so…
‘Bridge to engineering, you are a go to catalog damage and make necessary repairs to our hull’
‘Roger.  Crews going outside now.
‘Keep me appraised of the progress.’ Jamison said
‘Will do, sir.’
Within minutes, there were 20 crew members were covering the outside of the ship.  They carefully photographed and noted the location and size of the scars left by meteorite impacts on the hull.  By design, most impacts had occurred on the forward part of the ship where the impact coating was nearly a meter thick.  When each was cataloged, it was filled with a special ceramic epoxy resin similar to the original surface of the hull.  The color was a slightly lighter grey, but that would darken eventually.  Most of their time was spent dealing with the impact crater outside the galley.  Several engineers were consulted before they decided on the method of patching such a large crater.  On the sides of the ship, including where the mess hall impact had occurred, the coating was only about 10 centimeters thick.  They first cleaned the edges of the hole, then filled it with the resin, and covered it with a composite plate to make sure that the entire patch didn’t dislodge.  When all the repairs were complete, they went back to each one to make sure that the resin had adhered properly to the hull coating. The entire set of repairs took nearly all day, and required several shift changes because of the amount of oxygen that each suit carried.
It was a tense and exhausting day.  Everyone was relieved when it was finished, because that meant that the ship was no longer a ship, but a sensor platform for the mining conglomerate.
Only one thing left to do before the mineral survey began – the futile, but required bio-scan.  This was a holdover from years ago, when people still thought it was possible that there was life somewhere else in the universe.  The scan was looking for any kind of protein, which was a requirement for organic life.  None had ever been found, none would be found on this planet either, but regulations required the scan anyway.  The scan took about 4 hours to complete, and as expected came back negative.
‘Bridge to Mr Whittaker’
‘Whittaker here’
‘Repairs have been completed, and the bio-scan results are negative.  You may begin your scans at your convenience.  The ship is at your disposal’  Which Jamison thought was a fancy way of saying ‘you’re in charge, I’m just driving now’
‘We still do the bio-scan?’
‘Standing orders, Mr Whittaker.  The conglomerate has petitioned to have it removed, but it hasn’t been rescinded yet.’
Whittaker immediately requested a full deep sensor sweep at a relatively quick speed to get the general topography of the planet and to see where, if any, things of interest might be.  The ship was nose up, pointing the powerful sensor array at the planet.  Unlike the navigational sensors, which were entirely passive because of the great distances involved, the planet scanning sensors were active.  When the active scanners were engaged, the aft sections of the ship hummed with the energy being channeled through the waveguides.
After the initial planetary scan, several locaions were selected for more intensive scanning.  These scanners were capable of detecting specific substances up to 50 kilometers deep in solid rock, and could pinpoint deposits as small as a cubic meter.

In my sidebar, you will notice a widget with my NaNoWriMo stats.  It looks similar to this:

wordcount widgets

You too can have one (if you are participating in NaNoWriMo) by clicking on the ‘wordcount widgets’ link below graph.

Well, I’ve been writing for over a week now.  Sometimes it is easy, other times…  Well, I soldier on.   And I still haven’t gotten to the ‘good’ parts yet.

I try to keep my stats updated – every other day if not daily.  You can check my progress here.

Here is a scene that I wrote a few days ago, and find particularly interesting.  Hope you enjoy it.

A klaxon awoke him with a start.  General quarters, this is not a drill.
He pulled on his uniform and was on the bridge in under a minute.
‘What’s the emergency’ he asked.  Ensign Ramirez was the officer on duty.
‘That asteroid that we bypassed left a debris trail in its wake that we didn’t see until just now.  We’re expecting impact with micrometeors any minute now.  The gravity reflector has been furled, and we are pointing directly at the expected source to minimize any impact.
‘What’s our current velocity?’ Jamison asked
‘Just over 2300 kph.  Relative to the asteroid, 2719.
At that speed, impact with even a marble sized rock could be devastating.  The ship was designed so that impacts from the front would be more likely to glance off, rather than hit square.  That lessened the energy that was expended in contact with the hull.  And the hull was designed to withstand significant impacts through its use of sandwiched polymers and ceramics.  Even still, the situation was extremely dangerous.
‘All stations reporting at general quarters sir’
‘Very well.  Secure the klaxon.  Seal all airtight doors.  Inform the crew of the possibility of impact.  There was nothing to do now but wait.
A single thunk on the port side let them know that they had entered the debris field.  Another followed, and then a third.  A few seconds passed before a louder thud also from port.
‘Major impact port side, amid ships, level 1 sir’
‘Helm, Adjust attitude 5 degrees to port, 5 degrees positive pitch’ said Jamison, trying to point the nose more accurately into the debris field.
Several more impacts, but all forward, and spaced around the ship.  A rapid succession of small impacts that sounded like someone dropping a handful of coins on a dinner plate, and then silence.  One heartbeat, then two, then a dozen.
‘Damage report’ said Jamison
‘Minor breach in the galley spaces sir.  No casualties.  They have managed to temporarily seal it.’
‘Deploy the forward scanner and see if we’re through’  It had been close to 30 seconds, they should be clear by now.
‘Scanner showing all clear sir’
‘Secure from general quarters.  Dispatch a repair crew to the mess deck.  Any external damage?’
‘Running a scan now.  The mast appears in tact – no impacts on it, or the reflector.  No external systems damaged.’
‘Excellent.  Helm, resume deceleration course and set for 3 g’s’
‘Bridge to galley.  How are you holding out?’
‘Reynolds here sir.  A small hole in the port bulkhead. No real internal damage.  We have it plugged’
‘A repair crew is on the way.  How long can you hold out?’
‘Indefinately, sir.  The breach is plugged, and we are not venting atmosphere’
‘Very good.  I’ll be down to check on things in a few minutes’
‘Ensign Ramirez, the bridge is yours.  I’ll be in the mess deck if you need anything’ said Jamison
‘Thank you, sir.’  said Ramirez.  ‘Uh…. sir…..’
‘What is it Ensign?’
‘You might want to put on shoes before going to the galley, sir’
‘Oh. Yes, that would probably be a good idea.’
Jamison left, stopped by his quarters for his shoes, and then proceeded on to the galley.
‘Where’s the hole’ he asked as he walked in
‘On the bulkhead – about half a meter from the floor.’
Equipment had been shoved around so that an engineer could examine the breach.  Even still, it was cramped, and no more than one person could get within arms reach of it at a time.
‘You said you plugged it with what?’ said the engineer
‘Dough’ replied Reynolds
‘Dough?’
‘Yes, Dough.  You know the dinner roll that you had last night.  It was made from dough.  I took one of the dough balls and squished it into the hole.’
‘Dough.  Maybe I should get some for my toolkit.  How large did you say the hole was?’
‘About 3mm.  I could have sealed it with my finger, but then I wouldn’t be able to move.’
‘OK.  Hand me that suction plate.  No, the self-adhesive one.  6cm should be fine’
The engineer fastened the repair plate to the wall covering the hole – dough and all.
‘I’m going to need to seal the airtight door for about 15 minutes to verify the pressure just to make sure we don’t have a slow leak.  Anyone who needs to leave should go now’
Jamison headed back to the bridge.  What time was it anyway.  He checked his watch – still 7 hours before his watch started.  He stuck his head in the bridge.  ‘Anything to report’
‘We’re back on course and schedule.  The gravity reflector has some slight damage.  We’re compensating with a little extra juice from the emitters.  It’s scheduled to be replaced when we orbit.’  said Ramirez
‘Very well.  I will be in my quarters if you need me.  When they’re finished in the galley, have the duty engineer verify your assessment.  If it doesn’t agree, let me know.’
‘Thank you, sir’ said Ramirez
‘Oh, and make take statements from the engineer and galley staff.  Mr. Reynolds patched our hull breach with dough.  I’m going to put him in for a commendation.’
‘Dough, sir’
Jamison gave him a look.  ‘Just take the statements’
Jamison left the bridge.  It hadn’t even been half an hour since the klaxton woke him.  His adrenalin was rushing, and he didn’t know if he would be able to get back to sleep.  Five minutes later he was in his quarters, dozing.  He woke with a start.  No problem, just a dream…

Well, I’ve finished my first day of writing – a total of 2019 words.  Chapter 1 (maybe) is posted below.  I don’t plan on posting each entry here because, quite frankly, I’m tired of writing.

Captain Jamison let out a scream. It was a primal scream, and continued until he had no air left in his lungs. Then he threw up in the conveniently placed bucket near his chair.
He counted backwards in his head, ‘Five, four, three…’
The trembling started. He knew it would. He tried to hold them off as long as he could, but they always came at the same time – never letting him count past three.
He thought this was always the worst part – worse even than vomiting. He had been sick before, but the tremors were unique to this.
After a few minutes that seemed like hours, the tremors subsided and he was able to get up out of the chair.
He was just dumping his bucket into the toilet when Dr. Flores opened his door.
‘Don’t you ever knock’ He said gruffly.
‘Not when patients are known to be sick, and tend to ignore medical advice. Have a steward take care of that and sit down so I can check you out.
I can do it myself, thank you. And I’ll be down to sick bay for your inspection after I know the condition of my ship. I’m sure you have other things you can do until then.
Your ship is in better condition than you are, and the well-being of the captain is the top priority right now.
The color was slowly returning to the captain’s face, and the shakes were almost completely gone.
‘All right’ said the doctor, ‘but I need you in the infirmary in the next fifteen minutes, or I’ll send nurse Flores after you’
‘Thanks, Doc’ said Jamison. ‘And your wife likes me better than you do. Send her next time, and I just might be more cooperative’
The doctor left Jamison alone, much to his relief. He walked to the comm panel on his desk and quickly surveyed the status reports coming in from the sections of the ship. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, so he went back and collapsed in his chair again.
He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. Curse this new technology he thought. At least the chemical ships never made him sick.
He got up, walked to the sink, and splashed some cold water on his face. He was finally starting to feel like himself again. He thought to himself that maybe, just maybe, the foldspace sickness was a small price to pay to have nearly normal toilets and running water aboard.
His comm panel beeped. That’ll be David with the all clear, he thought. He walked over and pushed the button.
‘Whittaker here sir’ it squalked. ‘All sections reporting in, no damage, no casualties’
‘Very well, secure from foldspace and rig for gravity drive. I’ll be on the bridge as soon as I get the all clear from the doc. Jamison out’
He hit the button that shut the panel down.
He looked in the mirror, smothed his hair, and headed out the door.

The ship was configured with three decks. Deck 2 ran to the very front where the bridge was, and to the rear to engineering. All three decks had living quarters towards the front, and common spaces at the rear. Sick bay was on deck two, nearly in the middle of the ship.
Jamison was glad that he didn’t have to climb the ladder – his legs weren’t quite that steady yet.
The corridor was empty as he strode the 75 meters to sick bay.
‘Hello Captain’ said Nurse Flores as he walked in. ‘Have a seat and I’ll have these tests over in a flash’
‘Thanks, Alicia’ said Jamison as he sat down. ‘You could just punch the same data in from last time’
‘I wouldn’t be very professional if I did that, would I’ She replied.
She quickly fastened the sensor band around his head and chest, and flipped the scanner on.
‘Just sit still for a minute, you know the drill’
‘All too well, unfortunately’ Jamison replied. His reluctance at being examined after foldspace was partly an act, that he kept up because it gave him the necessary time to recover before returning to the bridge. The banter between he and the Flores medical team was very practiced – and seldom wavered. And there was also the matter of the tremors. In all the research subjects when foldspace was first being investigated, the tremors were accompanied by a rapid degredation of brain function, but he seemed to be unique. They tested him every time, and he had never shown any signs of that aspect. Can’t hurt to get looked at though, just in case.
Doc Flores walked over. ‘All done’ he said, as he removed the sensor bands. ‘No difference this time, unusual symptoms, anything out of the ordinary?’
‘None.’ Jamison replied. ‘Just the standard scream, puke and then torture by you…’
‘Good’ Doc Flores replied. ‘Just make sure you tell me if you get tremors or blurred vision, they can be symptoms of something serious’
‘Will do, Doc. Am I cleared now?’
‘Yep, get back to work before someone accuses you of malingering.’
‘Thanks, Doc.’ Jamison said as he walked to the door ’see you and Alice at mess tonight?’
‘Maybe, it depends on if Alice thinks her tomatos and peppers are ripe enough. She’s been waiting to use them’
‘Another time then’, Jamison said as he turned towards the door.
He was almost run over by Sgt. Peres.
‘Sorry, sir’ she said and blushed.
‘Where’s the fire’ Jamison asked.
‘I just want to get this over & get back to unpacking the plants. They don’t do well if they are left sealed too long’
‘Well we wouldn’t want anything to happen to our vegetable supply, that’s one of the few pleasures aboard’ he replied.
‘Thank you, sir’ she said glowingly – hydroponics wasn’t just a job for her, it was an obsession. ‘Has the doc been able to get your foldspace problem controlled yet?’
‘No. He said that I am just one of the lucky ones that the meds don’t work for. He’s still looking, but it doesn’t sound promising. Have you had any reactions from them?’
‘Well, I’m a little disoriented and almost giddy for a while when we come out, but other than that nothing’
‘I’m jealous’ he replied ‘but I’m also glad that the doctor was able to help you. If you could put in a word for me, maybe he’ll be a little kinder next time when he barges in before I’ve completely recovered’
‘I will, but you know Doc Flores – even Alicia can’t manage when he’s in his official mode’
‘Probably not. I don’t want to keep you from your checkup.’ Jamison said as he walked into the corridor.

Once again in the corridor, he pondered a moment whether go aft to check on engineering, or to go directly to the bridge. Half-a-second later he was heading toward the bridge. Either things were fine in engineering, or they didn’t need him interrupting their work, he thought to himself.
As he ducked through the airtight hatch leading to the bridge, he noticed that David was sitting in his chair. Not that it was wrong. He was in command right now, and that chair was the right place for him to be – but it irked him none the less. David wasn’t a military man – well, he had been quite a while ago, but he wasn’t any longer. Now he was just a glorified passenger that the higher-ups felt should be the XO. So now he had to put up with an XO that knew a little protocol, but wasn’t leadership material, and he was sitting in THE chair. Not that he wasn’t a pleasant enough guy to deal with – in his realm of mining.
‘Captain Jamison on the bridge’ announced one of the navigators, looking up from his display.
‘Captain, good to see you. Doc just sent your chit up’ said Whittaker
‘Mister Whittaker, I relieve you’ said Jamison – best get this out of the way first
‘I stand relieved, sir’ said David
‘Anything to report?’ asked Jamison.
‘Nothing out of the ordinary. Just resetting things from foldspace. We should be ready to get under way in about 10 minutes or so.’
‘Where’s the system from here?’ Jamison asked – Didn’t David know that he was supposed to give all this information immediately to the replacement on the bridge?
‘It’s about 3 AU away. Bearing 229. No objects of significant mass within 3 million kilometers. Long range scanners haven’t been recalibrated after foldspace, so we’ll know more when they come back. Engineering estimates another 10 minutes before it is online.’
Finally, Jamison thought. Maybe he was being too hard on David – he was only in command during foldspace, and remembering how to properly relinquish command must be difficult since he only did it every six months or so.
‘If you’ll excuse me, I have some work to get started prepping for this survey’ David said.
‘By all means’ Jamison replied ‘and thanks for keeping an eye on the shop while I was out’
David clumsily walked/fell through the hatch, and closed it behind him
He sat down. HIS chair. HIS chair in HIS ship – it felt good
He flipped on the station and saw that engineering had dispatched a repair team to the mess hall. Other than that, everything looked quiet.
He hit the comm button. ‘Captain to mess hall. Any problem there Mr. Reynolds?’
‘Reynolds here sir, no problem’
‘I see that you’re occupying an engineering team. Does this mean that dinner will be late?’
‘No sir, just a minor problem with the gravity generators in the galley. Everything’s still secured, so they’re repairing it before I start unpacking’
‘Very well. Is it still lasagna tonight?’ Jamison asked. Hydroponics had delivered a bumper crop of tomatoes to the mess hall last week, and Corporal Reynolds had been putting them to good use. Not that he couldn’t make an exceptional meal with shoe leather and sawdust. His skill in the galley was unsurpassed. Jamison had asked for Lasagna ‘like his mother made it’ as soon as the tomatoes were delivered, but cook said that it took at least a week to make the sauce. In off hours, you could smell it cooking if you went anywhere on deck 3. And the smell had only improved during the week – to the point that several crewmen were found trying to sneak a taste – until cook chased them out. With a butcher knife by one account. But there was no official report, so he could ’safely’ ignore it.
‘It is in the officer’s mess. The crew is going to have to settle for chili’
‘You know how I like your chili. I might just decide to dine with the crew. It’s been a while since I gave them a full briefing.’
‘You should probably know that the chili tonight will be served with rice, not cornbread. It’ll be another week before hydroponics can supply me with the ingredients’
‘Then I will be eating with the officers this evening. Chili with rice – even your chili, is just wrong. Let me know if the engineers run into any problems. Jamison out.’
Lasagna he thought. That would be good. As much as he liked cook’s chili, it was probably best not to put anything spicy on his stomach until at least tomorrow.
Jamison looked through a few more reports and was interrupted a few minutes later by the comm.
‘Engineering to Bridge’
‘Bridge here’ Jamison replied
‘Recalibration on the sensor array has been completed, and the array is back online. We are unfurling the spire for the gravity drive now, and should have that fully operational in less than half an hour.’
‘Very well. Keep me informed. Jamison out’. ‘Astrometrics, get me a full reading on that system’
‘Already coming in, sir’ replied Lieutenant Sara Jenkins from her console to his left. ‘Looks like 7 planets, Class G sun. Two planets in the green zone. Minor asteroid belt between planets 4 and 5. A few random asteroids scattered around. Full details being sent to navigation’