Chapter 2 – Journey

Eventually The captain, Paula, and Lt. Wright returns to the bridge. Lt. Wright checked comms while Paula waited by the door. Captain Garcia glared at Jack and Lana facing each other and shouted, "Myer, you don't look like you are working very hard. What is our speed and trajectory?"

With a sleek action, Jack turned back to the control panel and said, "There is nothing to work on, Bossman. The course is set, and the auto pilot is on. We are on our way to Mars, maxed out at 121 APS. Paula's computer calculations are working 100% right now."

The captain strolled over and glanced at the control panel with a controlled level of confidence. Once he was happy with the readings he nodded and turned toward the others and said, "If all my pilots were as reliable as this auto pilot, we could get by with less crew. More credits for the rest of us."

Paula was clearly offended by this comment, "Ouch, captain. You would still need pilots for the shuttles and drop ships. Don't act like you could one man crew this whole ship."

The captain smiled as he walked back to the door. He said, "No, not with this old bag of bolts. The new Chikari models have fully automated drop pods. You can go down to the surface, mark your landing zones, and call down the pods with a long-range remote. The whole system is fully automated. If I was younger and had the poise to put myself an extra 1.5 million credits in debt, I would get me one of those."

Not willing to give the captain the satisfaction, Paula fired back, "That sure sounds like a nice system to have. It has one little flaw though. You would still need at least one pilot to get down to the surface. You don't have the piloting skills to do it yourself."

With a little laugh, Jack got up from the pilot seat and said, "Nice to see you are planning to write us off the payroll and replace us with robots. I wonder if they will ever come up with a robot to replace the captain. I am sure they have program out there that can be as grumpy as he is."

The captain did not respond. He just walked out into the hallways with Paula and Jack behind him. Lana followed them at a distance. She was unclear as to where they were going. Was it time for hibernation sleep? She had not seen the hibernation room yet. Lt. Wright came out of the bridge and into the hallway. He leaned against the wall watching Lana. Probably still trying to catch her making a mistake. Lana continued to play it cool.

With the press of a button, the captain shouted into the intercom, "Newman! Barlow! It's nap time. Where the hell are you? Get your happy asses out here or I am leaving you in engineering for the next 7 years."

Within seconds, Gena and Steve arrived. The captain pressed a button on the wall. As he did so, the panels flipped over revealing no more than 10 hibernation beds. Each one had long human sized chambers with glass or plexiglass covers. Lana thought to herself, they were in the hallway the whole time. Center of the ship. Safest location, I guess.

The captain said, "Everyone pick a bed and do the self-diagnostic."

Jack chose a hibernation chamber and Lana walked over to the one next to his. She watched as he did the self-diagnostic. Lana mirrored his actions. It took a minute or so, but when the machine was done it chimed, "Self-diagnosis complete." Jack opened the glass door and laid down inside. Gena, Steve, and Lt. Wright were all in the process of doing the same.

Lana's heart was racing. Lana hesitated for a second. This was all completely new to her. She watched as the captain closed and activated each one. He started with Jack's machine and said, "See you in two seconds, dickhead." After activating the machine Jack became calm and within seconds was fast asleep. This was a normal part of space travel, but Lana thought it was fascinating. The captain walked around Lana and moved on to Lt. Wright. The captain didn't question why Lana was standing there waiting. He put Lt. Wright into hibernation, then Paula, and Steve, and Gena. Only Lana and the captain were left.

"Umm, sir. I mean, captain… I am sorry."

Captain Garcia cut her off, "You're a Leg. I know, I read your file. You didn't think I would bring some random person on our flight without knowing a little background, did you?"

Lana did not respond. The captain was prepared for her.

The captain waved his hand over the hibernation chamber control panel and said, "You have never done this before. You want the full explanation?" Lana smiled and nodded. The captain pointed at the machine and said, "Thought so, I think anyone would before you jump into a hibernation sleep for seven years. The system is self-enclosed. When you get inside and activated it, the interior is flooded with Chem32. That is Propofol. It puts you to sleep and slows the activity of the brain. For Jack this action isn't required but we do it anyways." Without turning her head, Lana peeked into Jack's chamber. The white smoke inside the chamber barely showed the silhouette of his body. He was completely asleep. The captain continued, "After you are asleep for 5 minutes, the machine fills the chamber with Chem12. That is Accelerated Acetylcholine. It slows your nervous system until your heart only beats once per 40 to 50 minutes. Just to keep the blood flowing in your body. After that you are in suspended hibernation, and you will stay that way until the machine is turned off. By the time we get to Sengis 01 it will have been seven years real time, but due to the suspension your body will have only aged a day or two. Questions?"

Lana thought about it for a second then asked, "Umm, what if the power turns off? Or the ship life support breaks?"

The captain cleared his throat and replied, "Even if the ship loses power or breaks apart into a million pieces, you won't wake up. Everything still functions normally as long as it is full of Chem12. It is an effective system. That's why they haven't changed it in almost 70 years." The captain pointed at the control panel on the hibernation bed she chose then said, "Now, are you ready to be skip this long flight?"

Lana gathered herself and laid down in the chamber. The captain pulled the glass cover down and sealed her inside. This way a claustrophobic nightmare waiting to happen. It certainly did not help Lana's anxiety. Her heart rate was through the roof. The captain pressed the activation button. The inside of Lana's chamber started to fill with yellow gas. It smelled oddly pleasant. Lana could feel herself calming down. Her heart rate slowed as she closed her eyes and relaxed. Her whole bodies started to feel very heavy. The last thing she heard was the captain saying, "Not bad kid. You're braver than I was the first time." Lana smiled at his words, but she was too far gone to say anything back. Her mind quickly fell into the deepest sleep and time slipped away.

Lights. Red Lights. Lana woke up to flashing red lights. Where was she? Lana lifted her arms but only hit the plexiglass of the hibernation chamber. She was still in hibernation sleep. Her body felt bad. Like she had sore muscles. Her stomach rumbled like she had not eaten in days. What was happening? Lana turned to her right. Jack's chamber was open. He was gone. Lana quickly turned left. All the other chambers were open too. She was the only person left. Either they were all kidnapped or she was just the last person to wake up.

Lana tried to use her arms to push the glass door open, but it did not budge. She even used her knee to assist but nothing happened. The lid was locked. Lana thought, how do you get out of this thing? Lana desperately moved around the inside of the chamber. Above her head Lana squinted at the bright flashing light, she could clearly see the word "Exit" written on it. This followed by the realized the light wasn't a light at all. It was a button. Lana pushed the red flashing button, and the machine made a slight "ding" sound as the system deactivated itself. The glass door slowly swung open as the hallway air rushed into the pod. Lana noticed that it smelled strange. Was it strange? Or was this the first breath she had taken in years? Lana sat up feeling the soreness in her muscles. Her legs were tight, her chest and back were equally as bad. Like she had just ran a marathon. She tried to stand but only managed to fall back into her pod.

"Hey, she woke up!" someone shouted from the bridge. It was a female voice. Lana saw Gena walking her way. Gena put one hand on her shoulder and said, "You look pretty rough. Don't worry, everyone handles hibernation sleep differently. How are you feeling?"

Lana cleared her throat and said, "Horrible." Gena knelled down next to her smiled. Then she pulled a gun from the end of Lana's hibernation chamber. The gun had a dial and slider that Gena adjusted for a second. It didn't look like a normal firearm, but it didn't matter to Lana, she didn't like guns. Lana protested, "Umm, wait a second." It was too late. Gena held the gun to Lana's neck as a painful rush of air hit her skin. Lana flinched and said, "Ouch, I said wait! What was that?"

Gena put the gun back inside hibernation chamber and answered her, "I just gave you some painkiller. It should kick in in about 30 seconds or so."

Lana rubbed the injection spot on her neck. Then she asked, "Why do I feel like this?"

Gena repeated herself, "I told you, everyone handles sleep differently. Your body hasn't moved in years. Muscle atrophy is a real thing. Your muscles have not moved in years. That is going to affect everyone. When you feel better you can come join us on the bridge. Okay?" Lana nodded as Gena got up and walked away.

After a few minutes Lana did feel better. She stretched her arms and stood up. She walked a little wobbly but by the time she got to the bridge she had regained her balance. The captain was sitting in his chair drinking coffee. Jack was in the co-pilot seat. Everyone else was standing against the wall, waiting. Lana stopped next to Paula and whispered, "What is going on?"

"Mission briefing." Paula said as the captain stood up.

Seeing Lana had entered the room, Captain Garcia said, "Everyone is here. Excellent. Sorry you had to wait. I hate repeating myself." He put his coffee down on the arm of his chair. The captain crossed his arms and walked toward the front of the room. He said, "Jack, put it up on the big screen." Jack pressed a few buttons to activate the large display. It showed a picture of massive red sun. Lana was more than a bit confused. This did not look like Sengis 01. The captain continued by saying, "We are not at Sengis 01. In fact, we are only 3 years out from Earth."

There was a collective groan from the rest of the crew. Captain Garcia didn't react to it. He said, "What you are seeing on the display is the Gj1061 system. It has a red dwarf sun that has three recorded planets. Note my emphasis on the word "Recorded". I say "recorded" planets because now there is a fourth planet. Jack, pull up the image please."

Jack pressed a few more buttons and pulled up an image of a small cloud covered green world. Lana noted that it looked like Earth but without oceans. It was certainly odd looking. The captain pointed to the picture and said, "Our auto pilot recorded us being pulled off course by the gravitational pull of an unknown object. The autopilot woke me up to assess the situation. I in turn, woke the rest of you up. This new fourth planet is not on our star charts. The computer has no record of it whatsoever. There are no habitable planets in this star system, so it is possible that this is fluke. Someone just forgot to add it in. I find it very unlikely that it just showed up here randomly."

Steve's patients were running thin. He threw his hands up and questioned the captain, "So what? You woke us up for this? It doesn't affect the job we came out here to do. Why do we care about some pointless mistake in the star charts?"

Captain Garcia nodded in agreeance. Then he replied, "I agree completely. Normally, I would have just marked it down in our logbooks and returned to hibernation sleep, but there was one little problem." The captain turned to Jack and nodded. Jack knew what he was talking about, he turned and zoomed in on the flashing blue light on the planet surface. "That my friends, is an emergency distress beacon. According to our navigation computer it has been transmitting for at least the last two months or so. Meaning this planet has someone on it. Someone that needs our help. According to SEU Aeronautics code 852, we are required to assist fellow space travelers to the best of our abilities if they are broadcasting a distress beacon."

Jack continued to do the zoom and enhance to get a better picture of the planet surface. However, the cameras were limited to their range. The surface was just a collage of greens, blues, and clouds. Gena watched the main screen while Jack did this, then she asked, "Hey captain, if I could throw in my opinion?"

Captain Garcia walked back to this seat, sat down, and picked up his coffee. Then he said, "It's not really up for debate, but sure I am open to everyone's opinion."

Gena added, "We don't know anything about this place. In fact, if it is an uncharted planet then NO ONE does. This planet could have any number of hazards waiting for us. Wild animals, freezing temperatures, or virus. We can't just send down shuttles to save whoever is down there. For all we know it could be a crashed ship. Someone could have left their autopilot running too long and ran into this unknown planet. Their bodies would be under 200,000 kilos of twisted steel. How are we supposed to help them? Sweep up the debris?"

Jack spoke up, "Can I volunteer for that job?"

"Shut it, Myer." Captain Garcia turned his chair to face Gena then he replied, "I understand your concern. We will collect all the data we can before we make any actions. That include sending anyone anywhere. So, you just sit tight."

Lana listened to the crew talk about this new un-explored planet. It was very interesting, was this some new undiscovered paradise? Lana sat down at the nearby bench. She was still lagging horribly. She held her stomach in pain. Paula came over and touched her on the shoulder. She knelt down and looked in Lana's eye. Then she smiled and said, "You didn't eat before going into hibernation sleep." Lana shook her head. Paula stood up and grabbed Lana's arm then she said, "Captain, we are going to have a space casualty if this one does get some food in her ASAP." Lana did not hear the captain's response. She just stood up and walked with Paula as she led her out of the bridge and into the hallway. Someone made a comment, but Lana wasn't listening. Her stomach was in extreme pain.

Paula and Lana walked back to the mess hall together. Lana sat down as Paula when into the kitchen area. She said, "I should have known you were going to need food. You didn't eat any of the jambalaya." Paula opened some freeze-dried fruits and brought them over to the table. Lana started to nibble on them one at a time. Paula watched as Lana slowly devoured the entire bag. After a few minutes she said, "You do know that your body still functions in hibernation sleep, right?" Lana nodded but did not speak with her mouth full. Paula got up and got some more food from the locker. She sat down and said, "That's a lot of fruit you might want to be careful. What goes in today will come out tomorrow if you know what I mean."

Lana started to feel better. She asked, "I couldn't help but notice… you always so chipper. You are so far from home. How do you do it?"

Paula reached into her pocket and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of Paula standing next to a man. He wore cool sunglasses and had long dark hair. He was a rather handsome looking guy. "This is Kevin. He is the love of my life. We are saving up for our dream wedding." Paula turned the picture around and kissed it.

Lana was surprised to say the least. She said, "He seems nice. Kevin is on Earth? How old is he?"

"We are the same age. He is 27 and 3 months. I am 28 and 6 months. We are slowly working on closing the age gap."

"How does that work? I mean, we just slept for 3 years."

"Doesn't matter. We will still be the same age when we get back to Earth. After I got the job at SEU Aeronautics, Kevin bought a hibernation chamber and set it up in a storage unit. Whenever I go on a job, we put our stuff in storage and he sleeps for the same number of years that I will be gone. He is sleeping right now."

Lana finally understood, "Oh, that's actually a pretty genius plan. But is he okay with watching life pass him by like that?"

Paula smiled and said, "He is okay with it. We have a 90-year plan. After 90 years we will have enough credits to have our dream wedding and live in Edinburgh."

Lana had a lot of questions about their set up. How do they celebrate anniversaries? What does Kevin do for a living that allows him to disappear for years at a time? What would Kevin do if she never returned? But Lana didn't want to pick apart Paula's dream. It seemed like a lot was riding on their relationship. Lana bit her tongue and just said, "Good for you. I am glad you have someone waiting for you back home." Paula smiled and put her picture away. Like Jack said, everyone had a goal.

After a few more minutes Lana was feeling good as new. Paula and she returned to the bridge. Captain Garcia was still in his chair. Lt. Wright was on comms trying to contact the owner of the distress beacon. Jack was still in the co-pilot seat. He had navigated the POLO closer to the mysterious planet. Lana glanced curiously at the display, she was no expert, but it seemed like they were in orbit around the planet now. Steve and Gena both waited for further instructions. They both looked equally annoyed by this whole endeavored. Captain Garcia asked, "Anything on comms?"

Lt. Wright took off the headset and said, "Not a single word. If there is anyone down there, they are not talking."

Captain Garcia cleared his throat and asked, "Myer, did the probes come back with anything useful?"

"The temperature probes came back. You will find this very interesting." Jack said as he pulled the probe scan information up on the main screen. Then he said, "Planet surface on the dark side is a comfortable 21 degrees. On the hot side it gets up to 37 degrees. With a solid 67% humidity."

Gena said, "How is this even possible? Red dwarf suns don't generate enough heat to support life."

"Hold your horses because there is an explanation." Jack typed into the consoles and brought us a new screen. Then he said, "Most planets that orbit a red dwarf star do not rotate, meaning they are tidally locked. Well, this planet doesn't seem to give two shits about logic or science. It is rotating on an 8-hour cycle. 4 hours of day, 4 hours of night. The atmosphere on the surface consists of 78% Carbon Dioxide, 11% Nitrogen, and 9% Oxygen and 2% other gasses. The massive amount of Carbon Dioxide traps the heat from the sun inside of it. This creates a giant CO2 heat shield that keeps the planet toasty warm. So, long story short, no breathable air, daytime is only four hours long, and the weather consists of hot showers every single day. This is the perfect holiday escape for Satan."

Everyone watched the data on the screen. Lt. Wright stood up and said, "If I might interject my professional opinion, Captain. No one is living here of their own free will. The only reason anyone would be on the surface is if they crashed there. We should just do a fly by and turn off the distress beacon."

Captain Garcia did not respond. He was looking over the numbers. After a moment he said, "The longer we sit here and do nothing the longer we are delaying our delivery." The captain walked back to his chair and sat down. It was his call to make. Without making eye contact with any of them he said, "Best pilot and best engineer. Johnson and Newman, take a shuttle down to the surface and find the source of the signal. Just for good measure we will send Lt. Wright too."

Steve started to protest, "Don't you think that is an unnecessary risk? Three people?"

Captain Garcia snapped him in place by saying, "Would you rather I send Myer and your girlfriend instead? I figured this was the better option. Don't you agree?" Steve didn't say a single word. He just pointed to Paula and pointed to the hallway. Lt. Wright also followed them. They walked out of the bridge together.

Jack slowly turned around and gave the captain a funny look. Then he said, "How is that a threat? Captain, I get the feeling that you think I am a shitty pilot. Like you just threatened Steve with Gena's life because I am guaranteed to crash land or something. That's messed up."

Captain Garcia just smiled at Jack then he said, "Myer, you think everything is about you. When you get to my age you know how to motivate people." Captain Garcia got up and adjusted his knee. He pressed a button on the left side of his kneecap and then slapped it once to get it in the right spot. Lana was surprised. The captain had a prosthetic leg. She never would have guessed by the way he carries himself. Captain Garcia got up and walked to the exit. Then he said, "Come on everyone, let's make sure they are kitted out before they leave."

Everyone walked to the equipment room near the exit. Lana watched as Steve set up three O2 tanks with masks to go with them. The masks were very nice. Of all the gear and items on the ship this was the first thing Lana saw as modern.

Across the room, Captain Garcia used a key to open up the gun locker. With a rusty swing of henges, the captain dropped the door and pulled a large box. Inside the box was an EPP energy pistol and holster. Lana shivered at the sight of the guns in the lock up. Why would friendly space travelers need guns? Captain Garcia tossed it to Lt. Wright and said, "You have five shots and a total of three refills. Don't point this at anything you want to keep." Lt. Wright put the holster on and checked the weapon ammo. Lana recognized it because it was the same pistols used by the police on Earth. For a second Lana thought they were being overly cautious for a rescue mission. This looked more like they were going to war.

Paula put on her oxygen mask and asked, "Where is my gun?"

Captain Garcia closed the weapons locker and replied, "You are flying, not shooting. Know your role, pilots fly, engineers repair, Communications officer… communicate. That is if there is anyone down there to talk to. Worst case scenario I want you to leave. We are here to check out a distress beacon, not to deliver a pizza. If there is anyone down there and they look even remotely angry at you then you leave. Understand?"

Paula, Steve, and Lt. Wright nod in agreeance. Steve asked sarcastically, "What if there are a ton of them and they want a ride to the nearest space station?"

The captain shook his head and said, "Maybe if there were only 3 or 4 survivors. Sure, we can do that. But we only have 10 hibernation chambers on this ship. Any more than 4 people and the best we can do for them is give them some extra air canasters to help them survive. Then we contact the local authorities to send out a rescue team. Now, Questions?"

No one had any questions. The mission was clean cut and dry.

Each crew member took a moment to speak amongst themselves. Paula gave Jack a smile and said, "See you when I get back."

Jack shook his head and said, "If you get back. Captain and I might fly off without you." It was interesting to see how the crew reacted to each other. Paula and Jack joked around. Steve and Gena hugged and talked in private away from the rest of the crew. Lt. Wright and the captain talked business and rules of engagement. In that brief moment Lana understood. While everyone here had left their family behind. The crew had become the new family. It was touching.

When everyone was ready, Paula, Steve, and Lt. Wright got in the nearest airlock and prepped the shuttle for launch. Jack left to return to the bridge. Gena waited to see them off. The only thing left was the worried look on her face. Captain Garcia put his hand on Gena's shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it. They will be back in a minute. We need you on comms for now." Gena turned away from the airlock and returned to the bridge with the captain. Lana followed right behind them.

The Shuttle detached from the POLO with a familiar metallic clanking noise. Shuttle 202 quickly drifted down toward the planet surface. After a few minutes they were getting very close to the planet. Captain Garcia eyed Gena at the comms stations said, "Tell them to slow the hell down. They are entering into an unknown atmosphere. They don't know what to expect."

Gena repeated his order into the headset. Then Gena flipped a switch turning the speaker system loud enough for everyone on the bridge to hear. Paula replied, "This is Shuttle 202. Copy that, POLO. Decelerating. We are two minutes out from entry into… Gena, do we have a name for this planet? I feel weird calling it THE planet."

Gena replied, "You can call it whatever you want. I won't disagree."

Lana watched the shuttle's decent on the overhead screen. The shuttle disappeared from the overhead screen. Lana thought maybe something was wrong but then she heard Paula reply, "POLO, this is Shuttle 202. We have entered the atmosphere. Nasty cloud cover down here. Other than that, smooth sailing."

Captain Garcia smiled and said to Gena, "Tell her not to get cocky. There are a million things that could go wrong. They need to be on their toes."

Gena repeated the order at the comms station. Jack continued to track the shuttle's location and altitude. He peered out of the corner of his eye to see if Lana was paying attention. He waved her over to the co-pilot seat. Jack said, "You want so see how everything functions? I can give you a quick tutorial if you want?"

Lana shook her head and stated, "Oh no, I am just a passenger. I wouldn't dare touch anything in here."

"Fear of flying or fear of making a mistake?"

"Fear of crashing. I have a collection of phobias. I have the fear of heights, crashing, guns, snakes, spiders, suffocation, basically anything that is harmful."

Captain Garcia was not listening to their conversation. He was watching the overhead screen. But he was still listening to Lana and Jack's conversation. He spoke up, "Amazing they got you this far. With all those phobias they must have had a hard time dragging you this far out of your safe space."

Lana did not respond. She just sat down in the other pilot seat. Captain Garcia made it sound like she was afraid to leave the house. The whole situation was a little embarrassing. After a few minutes Paula spoke through the radio, "POLO, this is Shuttle 202. It is raining like cats and dogs down here. We are at the target zone." There was silence for a second then she said, "POLO, there are a bunch of ships here. This is not a crash site. Repeat this is NOT a crash site."

Captain Garcia gripped the handles of his chair and said, "Check for power signatures. Check for powered up weapons systems."

Gena repeated his order into the headset. Then a few seconds later Paula said, "Negative on power, there are no power signatures and no weapons activated. There aren't even people outside. Ghost town. Looks like no one is home." Captain Garcia did not have anything to say to this. Such a bizarre situation. After a few seconds of no order Paula said, "I am setting her down near that big blue ship."

Steve could be heard in the back of the shuttle. His voice barely picked up in the transmission, "That's a Maxwell SC24. It's a really nice ship."

After a few seconds of silence Paula spoke again, "POLO, this is shuttle 202. We are on the surface. Engines powering down."

Captain Garcia squinted at the monitor and said, "Myer, can you get a picture on the big screen?"

Jack nodded and replied, "Sure, thing." He used the control panel to enlarge the display and zoom in the on planet. There was nothing to see. Then Jack said, "The clouds are too thick you can't see anything. But we can always use our imaginations!"

Captain Garcia shot Jack an unappreciative face. "Gena, ask Paula for an awareness check."

After Gena relayed the message Paula said, "POLO this is Shuttle 202. Hang on let me get a better look." Paula paused her transmission for a second then she said, "Looking out the windows, I can see rain… and ships. The planet has a high number of colorful trees, grass, and bushes. Not much else to talk about. Lt. Wright and Steve will be back in a minute. They are taking a look around."

Gena responded, "You let them leave together?! Are you crazy I thought it was only supposed to be Lt. Wright!"

Paula responded, "Yeah, I thought so too. But Steve was highly interested in the ships outside. He said it was too dangerous for Wright to go alone. I certainly wasn't going to argue with either of them. Steve said he would be careful."

Gena shook her head with disappointment. Captain Garcia just let out a long sigh. Hearing him, Gena turned and said, "What are we going to do?"

"We wait."

They crew on board the POLO waited for what seemed like an eternity. Captain Garcia didn't seem too effected as he sat in his captain's chair. Gena seemed worried. It wasn't like Steve to run off without a word. While Jack and Lana were ready to fall asleep waiting. Finally, the radio kicked on as Paula said, "Hey captain, what are you guys doing up there?"

Gena answered for him, "What are we doing? We are waiting for you to tell us what is going on! We have been sitting here forever!"

Paula answered back, "Oh. Me too. We are all waiting for something to happen. While I have been waiting, I think I figured out what is going on. Remember that one time we saw in the NEWS about those people that traveled to places and planets to have crazy parties, orgies, and stuff?"

No one said replied to her. Captain Garcia got up from his chair and walked over to comms to pick up the second headset. Paula continued, "Well… maybe its like that? These people found an uninhabited planet and came all the way out here to bang in the woods. You think?" Lana and Jack started to laugh. The conversation as too funny not to.

Captain Garcia put the second headset on and said, "Johnson, you have been hanging out with Myers too much. You sound just like him, spewing out the mindless nonsense that he talks about all day every day."

Paula didn't respond. Then she said, "Oh hey, they are back. One second." Paula put the headset down. Once again everyone on the POLO was left in the dark.

Jack turned around and said, "Did she sound off to you guys?"

Gena shook her head and said, "Sounds like boredom got the best of her."

A few minutes went by. Paula picked up the headset again and said, "Okay, Wright and Steve are back onboard. I did the airlock scan. I checked them for the parasites and biological contaminations. They are clean. They are good. Wright wants to talk to you." Paula put the headset down. Everyone on the POLO waited patiently as they had been for the last 20 minutes.

Finally, Lt. Wright said, "Captain, we did a full search of the area. There are 6 ships surrounding one central structure. Looks like a research station of some kind. We searched the ships as quickly as we could. Despite our best efforts we did not find anyone. There is absolutely no one here."

Captain Garcia replied, "Okay, I guess that answers none of our questions. Did you find and turn off the distress signal?"

Before Lt. Wright could answer the headset changed owners again. This time Steve came over the radio. "Captain, Lt. Wright didn't tell you the most important part. We are sitting on a gold mine here. You need to come down right away. And while you are at it, bring some power cells."

Steve was barking orders at the captain now? Captain Garcia was beginning to think Steve had lost his mind. He asked, "What are you talking about? Why would I come down to the planet?! All you have to do is turn off the distress signal. What would you need power cells for that?"

Steve started over again. "Captain, the ships and the facility are completely abandoned. There is a Maxwell SC24, a Noorgeck Lander, a Venere Classic, and 3 more ships. The Laws of Salvage state that the finder or finders can make claim to an abandoned ship so long as it is unmanned. It can be abandoned for ten minutes or hundreds of years, it doesn't matter. All of these ships and the research station are unmanned. We can claim these."

The captain thought about it for a moment. Lana could tell he was pondering the opportunity. Every second that passed put them further behind on their delivery to Sengis 01. But then again, these abandoned ships were worth a lot of credits. The captain asked, "Tell me about the ships."

Steve started talking again, he listed off all 6 ships and their worth. Not including the research station, the ships alone were worth 140 million credits. The research station was probably another 50 million in itself.

Gena shook her head and said, "Steve this sounds horribly illegal. This really sounds like stealing."

Steve fired back, "Not at all, The Laws of Salvage state that a company or individual may claim ownership of any abandoned ship so long as they can prove it was theirs originally. If they can't prove it, then the ship belongs to the finder. That would be us. If the company can somehow prove it is their ship, we have to give them the ship back, but they have to pay a 20% finder's fee for the total cost of the ship. Which means, even if we have to give all the ships back to their original owners, they have to pay us a minimum of 40.1 million credits. Do I need to say that again? 40.1 million credits finder's fee! We can't go wrong here."

Captain Garcia pressed the button on the headset and said, "We are on our way." With that he put the headset down and walked toward the exit. The he shouted, "Myer, make sure we are in full orbit. Then you are coming too. Everyone is coming."

Jack stood up and asked, "Are we seriously doing this?"

The captain pointed to the door and said, "We can argue on the way." Jack and Gena both got up and started walking for the door. Captain Garcia motioned to Lana and said, "That means you too Ms. Davies. Let's go."

Lana stood up and started walking for the door. Then she stopped and shook her head at the captain. She said, "I think I would rather stay in the ship."

The captain smiled because he knew better. Then he said, "This isn't a topic of debate. You are not a crewmember so let me explain it to you. I am in charge. Therefore, if I leave you here and we never come back. You eventually starve to death. I get blamed for that. If I leave you here and you accidentally crash my ship or fly away with it. I am to blame, and we are stuck here for the foreseeable future. Long story short, you're coming with us. Got it?"

Lana smiled uncomfortably and replied, "I guess so."