Visionary From The Stars (18.1)

STILL SITTING ON THE FLOOR OF HER SHIP'S CLOSET, jean finished looking over the information that Elnhide had given her and found herself feeling totally disgusted. She soon realized from the hissing of her ship's many doors that the Platonians were on her ship. She tapped a few buttons to connect her MTD to the ship's security system, and watched as the Platonians carried explosives into the ship.

Jean silently fumed as she watched the Platonians tampering with her ship's systems to tie the explosives directly into the ship. When they finished their work they silently left the ship, unawares that Jean was onboard.

Maybe I can disable those bombs, Jean thought to herself as she reached up to try the closet handle.

"CRAP!" Jean swore under her breath.

While they had been tampering with her computer system, the Platonians had inadvertently activated a safety protocol that locked all of the ship's closets. The irony of the situation was not lost on Jean.

Seemed like a good feature to have if I were being boarded against my will…

She was stuck, all she could do was sit and wait. It wasn't long before a vibrating alarm on her MTD went off. Jean remembered that Elnhide had instructed her to call the Star Traveler crew after an hour had passed. Taking a moment to shut the alarm off, Jean did as Elnhide had instructed her and tapped a few buttons to send a call out to the Star Traveler.

*****

As the Star Traveler entered the Drietik stellar system they received a call from EASA. Pausing before he put in the coordinates for Udoran, Captain Mitchell accepted the call. The EASA official quickly informed them that he was transferring a message to them from Udoran.

"Alright, we best take it now before we get there." Captain Mitchell stated.

The EASA official closed the call and began transferring the message. Before the Udoran message opened another light began pulsing on the computer console between her and Captain Mitchell

"Wait," Laurie exclaimed, pointing out the light.

Captain Mitchell tapped the panel and the ship's main screen changed to show a colony research ship, drifting aimlessly between them and their route to Udoran.

"Scans of the ship show one human aboard." Dr. Kingston stated.

"Signs of damage?" Captain Mitchell asked.

"No, Captain." Laurie replied.

"Hmm, they aren't responding to my call either…Let's move in closer and see if they need any help." Captain Mitchell suggested.

He took the ship in closer and began preparations to try to dock with the ship.

"Hold on…Someone is trying to call us," Laurie replied, tapping a button that would display the caller on screen. It became apparent to the crew that whoever it was had called them using a MTD.

"This is Jean McClain of the Comet Research Ship 80195 to the Star Traveler. Please respond. My ship is bait. The Platonians are in the area. You are in danger."

"No one told us before that Platonians had been sighted in this star system!" Dr. Eric spoke up from his chair behind Laurie.

Laurie stood and went to stand behind Captain Mitchell, her stiff posture betraying the tension that filled her.

"Jean--, this is Captain Mitchell of the Star Traveler. Can you fly your ship?" Captain Mitchell replied.

"I doubt it, from what I saw on my security feed it looks as though they have disabled my ship."

"We are coming to help!" Captain Mitchel waited for her to finish reading his words.

"You need to see this first…" Jean typed back.

Jean sent over a recording from her ship's security feed. The Star Traveler's main screen split to show the security feed and the view of the disabled research ship. Jean showed the crew the view of the observation deck from a few hours ago where the Platonians were busy hooking up their devices to the ships main computers. When the Platonians were done, they left the devices on the deck as they left.

"You don't have much time!" Jean choked updating the feed to the current view of the observation deck.

Through the security feed the crew watched as the devices that the Platonians attached to the observation deck were already counting down.

"They are going to blow up that ship!" Laurie screamed. "Ms. McClain, get out of there!"

"I can't." Jean replied back, "I'm in an equipment closet, the ship activated a lock down protocol when the Platonians tampered with the system."

Just then a Platonian Guild ship flew into range. Enemy vessel warning alarms went off on the bridge and the viewscreen changed to show the approaching Guild ship.

Laurie dived for her chair and pulled open the compartment below it. She dragged out the 3D virtual reality equipment and plugged it into the computer panel on her chair's armrest. Captain Mitchell saw what she was doing and, with the press of a button, relinquished control of the ship to Laurie.

Laurie swung the ship away from the Platonian ship's first volley of shots. Through the privileged perspective of her virtual equipment and its link to Jean's computers, Laurie could see just how fast the countdown was nearing its end.

Laurie knew she had to act fast. She called up the statistics of Jean's ship and made the Star Traveler's computer display the information on the front viewscreen for the whole crew to see.

"Captain Mitchell, could we get an emergency shuttle to dock with that access hatch so we can get Jean out of there?" Laurie called out, the helmet muffling her voice.

"Yes, I do believe so, but with the maneuvers the Platonians are putting their ship through you would be the better candidate to drive that shuttle," Captain Mitchell replied, tapping a button that linked him to her helmet so she could hear him.

Laurie quickly relinquished the virtual reality gear over to Captain Mitchell who proceeded to swing the ship away from the Platonians second round of shots. He followed them with shots of his own. Dr. Kingston stood and hugged her daughter.

"Please be careful, dear." Dr. Kingston called out while bracing herself against the back of her seat from the momentum from the ship.

"I will, Mom. Don't worry," Laurie exclaimed hurriedly as she kissed her father on his forehead and ran out through the main deck's double doors.

She crossed the hall and pressed her hand to the double doors that led into the cargo bay.

"Recognizing ship's engineer. Access Granted," the now-familiar automated voice replied as the doors slid open.

Laurie stepped into the room and immediately found herself standing before another set of double doors. Laurie placed her hand on this door as well.

"Voice recognition required," the computer requested.

"Ship's engineer, Laurie Kingston," Laurie called out.

The doors hissed open and Laurie ran across the spacious cargo bay toward one of the emergency shuttles. She climbed into the nearest one and as she closed the hatch, called out the command to depressurize the cargo bay. After a few security checks, the computer finally complied with her request. As the double doors of the cargo bay opened at the back of the Star Traveler, Laurie lifted her ship and flew out into space.

Weaving a path between the Star Traveler and the Platonians, she did her best to avoid a direct hit as the two ships locked in a fierce battle. Laurie made her way, unnoticed, to the research ship's hatch. She docked carefully with Jean's ship. Then, pulling out her own MTD, Laurie called Jean.

"Do you have the override code to the hatch controls?" Laurie asked a surprised Jean as she told her where she was.

"Yes, here, just a moment," Jean replied as Laurie then felt the familiar hissing of the hatch being released.

Laurie jumped up and ran onto Jean's ship. Holding her MTD before her, Laurie traced Jean's MTD signal, following it to an equipment closet at the back of the ship. Laurie tried to open the door but Jean was right, it was locked. Stepping back and pulling her tegar from her belt, she shook it twice.

Raising her tegar over her head, she brought it down hard along the door's handle. The handle broke off and clattered to the floor. Jean hesitantly pushed the door open to see Laurie standing there with her tegar by her side.

"You're just a kid!" Jean exclaimed.

"We'd better get going," Laurie replied, brushing aside Jean's remark and leading the way down the hall towards the access hatch and into the shuttle.

"Hold on, I've got to finish transferring the data from my ship's computers to my MTD. I can do it wirelessly but I can't lose that information!"

"You might want to do it quickly," Laurie replied, looking warily over her shoulder. "The Platonian bombs have a short detonation schedule."

As she and Jean climbed into the escape shuttle, Laurie locked the hatch and worked on the sequence to prepare to disengage the vessels. A squealing from the devices the Platonians left behind gave Laurie the distinct impression that the detonation sequence had begun.

"Are those downloads complete?" Laurie asked.

"Yes, got it!" Jean yelled over the noise, shutting her MTD as Laurie put as much distance as she could between herself and the exploding ship.

The Star Traveler crew watched, horrified, as the science ship began to break apart before their eyes. Mr. and Dr. Kingston watched the screen carefully for any sign of Laurie's emergency shuttle. The Star Traveler had managed to critically damage the Platonian ship. Knowing that the research ship was disintegrating, there was no reason for the enemy ship to hang around for another attack. Captain Mitchell held his breath and watched the screen for Laurie's shuttle. Just as the crew had nearly given up hope and the last of the explosions convulsed the dying ship, Captain Mitchell spotted the shuttle and moved to meet it.

"The Platonians seemed to have gotten your message," Jean pointed at the viewscreen of the Emergency Shuttle and they watched the enemy ship leave the system.

Laurie met the Star Traveler and flew the Emergency Shuttle into the open cargo bay.

After she landed the shuttle, Laurie's MTD beeped.

"Laurie?" Captain Mitchell called as his face appeared on her screen. "Is Jean with you?"

"We're both here," Laurie answered.

"Oh good! Laurie, that message from Udoran was from Peter McClain at DataTech," Captain Mitchell stated, Jean brightened at the news.

"That's my brother!" She exclaimed.

"He wants us to visit him on Udoran. Laurie, they say they have found the Intergalactic Bible we have been searching for!"

*****