Goodbye, Herial
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 10:54 pm
(This is a short story I wrote for my english class not too long ago. It's fairly long (about 25 pages) and I spent a lot of time finishing it. Some parts are still a little underdeveloped, in my opinion, but I'd like to get others. Just a note: It's written in what my teacher likes to call Spacial Order. That is, it's organized by location, not time.)<br><br>Goodbye Herial<br>Written January, 2003<br><br>Chapter one<br>Mess Hall<br><br>        A worn, but still well polished glass clanked down onto a metal table. Next to the tall glass of milk rested a ceramic bowl, which had soggy flakes of corn and wheat in it. A stainless steel spoon crunched into the bowl’s contents. Without much thought, it was shoveled into a mouth. With some furious crunching, the spoonful of cereal was eaten.<br>        “So yeah,” the mouth said, “I was saying to this guy Allerbik, ‘Hey, a blaster isn’t necessary, really.’ Of course, he didn’t listen, and pulled it out. But I was too fast for him. With a swoosh, click and a bang, Allerbik’s gun was on the floor! Then I said-”<br>        “‘-I told you it wasn’t necessary, bucko, so just give the goods back. Now.’ didn’t you already tell this one, Hall?” A female across the table asked.<br>        The mouth, Hall, replied, “Um, well, yeah, but Poquette hasn’t heard it yet! So why’re ruining it for him?”<br>        “There wasn’t anything to ruin. It isn’t like the story’s suspenseful,” responded the female.<br>        “A story is still a story, Wells, there’s no-”<br>        “It’s alright,” interrupted the third person, Poquette, after setting down his mug of tea, “This isn’t something that should be argued over.”<br>        The female, Wells, sighed, “Guess you’re right.” She chuckled, then made a quick outward gesture toward Poquette, “See here, Hall, even the new guy knows what and what not to argue about. Maybe you should take a cue from him.”<br>        “Hey!” growled Hall, who almost sloshed over his glass of milk. His anger quickly subsided. Hall muttered something under his breath, then went back to eating his bowl of cereal.<br>        The milk was tumbling over the edge of the bowl, and the spoon was almost a blur between Hall’s mouth and the bowl as he stuffed the flakes into his mouth.<br>        “Uh, Thomas, aren’t you eating, well, a little too…vigorously?” inquired Wells, as she stood up from her chair.<br>        “What are you talking about?” said Hall, immediately slowing down, “I’m doing no such thing.”<br>        Wells laughed again, getting herself a refill of coffee from a machine on the other side of the room, “Whatever you say, Hall, whatever you say.”<br>        The room was silent for a moment as Wells sat back down and began to sip her steaming up. Poquette was quietly drinking his tea, his eyes focused absently; he was seemingly in deep thought. Hall slowly continued to work on his cereal, taking careful measure not to eat too quickly.<br>        Poquette broke the silence when he stood and said, “I’m going back into the kitchen, anyone need anything?”<br>        “One of those huge blueberry muffins, if we’ve still got any left,” answered Wells.<br>        “Me too, if there’s enough,” Hall added.<br>        “Two muffins, coming right up,” said Poquette as he disappeared into the kitchen.<br>        Silence filled the room again. Hall eyed Wells, looking her over as she drank her coffee. At the moment, she was reading an old newspaper, one that came in a few weeks back. Elizabeth Wells was young, in her early twenties. She still had a hint of adolescence about her, but at the same time an oncoming air of maturity. Her blond hair was long and pulled into a tight ponytail, as usual. Her skin was light, and her features fair. Wells was considered pretty by many, and beautiful by more than a few, Hall included. Her strong gray eyes flicked back and forth as read the paper, and her eyebrows twitched slightly as thoughts entered her mind. Wells wore a black t-shirt covered by a light brown jacket. Her legs were crossed under the table, and on them was her well-used, well-worn blue jeans, which she wore almost every day. Simple boots adorned her feet. <br>Wells looked up from the paper, eyeing Hall inquisitively.<br>        “What are you looking at?” she casually asked. It wasn’t a harsh remark in the least.<br>        “Why, the only thing worth looking at,” Hall replied with a smile.<br>        Wells rolled her eyes, but smiled none the less. Hall chuckled as Poquette re-entered the mess hall.<br>        “What’s so funny?” he asked, since he only caught the tail end of the chuckle.<br>        “Hall, of course. What else?” answered Wells, just as Hall opened his mouth to speak.<br>        “Ah, of course.” Finished Poquette. He sat down, placing two very large muffins in the center of the table with one hand, and taking a bite of a dounut with the other. His face suddenly contorted with thought, and he stood back up.<br>        “Just remembered, I wanted to head down to the bridge and talk to Samson about a few things. See you two later.” With that and a bite of his dounut, he rushed out the mess hall door.<br>        “I better get going too. Promised McDavis I would help her with the maintenance stuff in engineering this morning.” Hall said between mouthfuls of muffin.<br>        Wells nodded, “I’ll finish up in here. You just get going. You and I both know McDavis doesn’t like to wait.”<br>        Hall laughed as he rose from the chair, “That’s for sure. See you later, k?”<br>        “Okay. Bye.”<br>        “Bye.”<br>        Still eating his muffin, Hall left the mess hall, leaving only Wells. She didn’t mind, she needed a little time to herself to finish her reading anyway. Wells continues to read the article from before. It happened to be about how the complexities of the Nugarian languages were causing a ruckus out on the trading front. The translator in question didn’t know one of the many dialects, and misunderstood. Grievously.<br>        Wells just happened to be the ship’s communication specialist / translator, so she needed to keep on top of these things. Luckily for her, Wells knew most of the intricacies of the Nugarian language. She might need to brush up, though. <br>        In the middle of a rather large bite of muffin, the ship shuddered noticeably. Little tremors here and there were commonplace, but this one was tenfold any of the previous. Even larger meteorites wouldn’t shake the ship this much. Having no idea what it was from, the rocking bothered Wells, but she didn’t let herself dwell on it. She’d just ask Samson what it was later. Wells was heading to the bridge soon anyway, and that’s where he was.<br>        After the last mouthful of blueberry muffin, Wells cleaned her things and put Hall’s and Poquette’s in the dishwasher as well, as she said she would. Taking a quick look around, she briskly left the mess hall, heading for the bridge.<br>        The mess hall was empty. The room was one of the larger ones in the ship, especially being just for relaxation. The walls were bare metal, but the floor was carpeted gray. A large table adorned the center of the room, with seating for five. This is where the crew usually ate meals. The table was metal, and so were the chairs, though they had a few inches of cushioning. On the far wall was a large rounded window, showing, as usual, the emptiness of space. Only the splattering of stars made the view less dull. To the right of the door stood a few countertops. On top of them were a number of necessities, including the coffee pot, tea maker, and snacks. Underneath were wooden cabinets. To the right of the counters, on the right wall was the entrance to the mess hall storage, which was just a place for the crew to keep any sorts of things they couldn’t fit in their quarters. To the left was the door to the kitchen. Few ever wanted to go in there, since it was almost always a mess, though mess hall itself needed some cleaning as well. Since the room was so well used, various items from each of the crew members laid about the floor and furniture. Samson had papers needing to be looked at, Hall left a pile of Pilot’s Today magazines in the corner. McDavis left a toolkit in the kitchen. Ever since the fridge broke and she had to fix it, she just kept it in there. Wells had almost a library of books under the countertops. The only person not to have much in here was Poquette, but since he was new to the crew, that was explainable.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        Approximately one half-hour had passed since the mess hall had been emptied. Footfalls echoed outside it’s doorway, and suddenly came to a stop. The wide doors to the mess hall slid silently open, and Hall popped in, looking widely about. A large, strong, but thin woman with wild red hair followed.”<br>        “Damnit, where is he? I thought you said Sidney was here!” yelled the woman.<br>        “This is the last place I saw him, so be quiet for a second and let me think!” Hall harshly replied.<br>The woman was holding a small steel box about the size of a shoebox. There were a number of wires reaching out of the top and around to the side. A simple LCD shined on the side of the bland box. She held it tightly but carefully, as if it was a wild animal.<br>        Hall, meanwhile, had already paced the room a few times over, looping around the central table.<br>        “Now where his he…the ship isn’t that large.” Muttered Hall.<br>“Well we can’t go running around the entire ship looking for him, stupid! We only have,” she glanced down at the LCD, “eight and a half minutes left! Now think!         Where did he say he was going?” lashed the fiery female.<br>        “Of course, why didn’t I remember? He’s in the bridge, working with Samson. He said so himself. C’mon, McDavis, let’s go!”<br>        “Finally.”<br>Hall rushed out the door, running at full sprint. Before McDavis was even outside the doorway, Hall had slid around the corner of the corridors, out of sight.<br>        McDavis followed, quickly walking, not wanting to upset the box.<br>“This isn’t going as planned, not at all…” she whispered as the door slid shut behind her.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        Less than a minute from McDavis’ and Hall’s departure, a message echoed through the ship via the internal speaker system.<br><br>        “ATTENTION CREW. EVERYONE REPORT TO THE BRIDGE THIS INSTANT, ESPECIALLY POQUETTE. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!”<br><br>* * *<br><br>        Five or so minutes passed since the announcement sounded. No footsteps rang through the hall way, but the doors still slid open, allowing Poquette to enter.<br>        Sidney Poquette was a lean, strong man, barely into his thirties. He had a sharp face, with dashing features. Blue eyed and blond haired, he was handsome. Poquette wore a white navy-blue jacket that covered a white tank-top. His pants were light colored, and he wore rugged, well used boots. Since he was the weapons specialist, he had a blaster pistol at his side. At the moment, Poquette wore a very nervous look on his face.<br>        He stepped casually into the room, then stopped, peering warily about. Since nobody else was in the room, he dropped in guard. Poquette whispered his way past the countertops, and to the mess hall storage door. He opened it and crept inside. There, he ruffled through the mess, and found an item he was searching for.<br>        “What do you have there?” a voice said, startling Poquette almost to the point of him bumping his head standing up. It was McDavis, standing to the side of the center table, leaning against it.<br>        “It’s the replacement, see?” He held the object up, into the light so McDavis could see. She shuttered.<br>        “Yeah, I see. Sid, I’ve been meaning to tell you something…”<br>        “What it is?”<br>        “I’m having a bit of trouble with our plan.”<br>        “What about it? C’mon, out with it.”<br>        “You’ve got to understand that I’ve known the crew for years. It, it just doesn’t feel right to lie to them all of a sudden.”<br>        “But you have to, we both have to if the plan will ever work.”<br>“How long? How long to I have to keep this up. I don’t know how much more I can take of this.”<br>        “Not much more, really. We’re almost ready.”<br>Poquette strode out the mess hall doors, motioning for McDavis to follow.<br>        “I need to install this,” he said, “We can talk in engineering.”<br>The redhead nodded, and followed him out.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        The mess hall was empty for maybe ten, fifteen minutes more when a huge rumble rattled the ship. This time was tenfold the last rumble. Within seconds, the lights went out, and a distant explosion echoed through the ship. The blasts got closer, and before a minute was up, the entire ship was ablaze.<br>        Then the ship Herial, in it’s entirety, blew up, leaving nothing but chunks of metal and wisps of vaporous debris.<br><br> <br><br> <br><br>Chapter two<br>Bridge<br><br>        The tune that wafted through the air was an old one. It was centuries old. The tune was called Jupiter, bringer of Jollity, from The Planets symphony. It was a pleasant song, and quite epic. That was the reason J. L. Samson liked it so much, was that epic feeling it always gave him. He had the tune in the computer’s data banks, but he didn’t need the actual music flowing at that moment. Humming the tune was enough for him.<br>        Samson was in the bridge, sitting in his chair, the captain’s chair, working out some navigational corrections. The ship was currently heading right for an ion storm. These weren’t usually a problem, but this one was larger than most. Ion storms of this size knocked out communications, and, if it was bad enough, could knock out ship power. That would leave them dead in space until the ion storm passed, which could be as long as weeks. Samson didn’t want to waste that much time, so he was working out a simple navigational correction that would take them around the storm, instead of right through it.<br>        The room Samson sat in, was the most beautiful and efficient room in the ship. It’s walls were nicely curved, and the layered effect the different levels gave an air of command. The front wall was covered by the main window, which was largest in the ship. Many HUDs (Heads Up Displays) could be projected on the window for all to see. In the center of the room was the captain’s chair. Below that and to the left was the communications station. To the right of that, in center, was the pilot’s chair. The weapon’s station was left of that. Behind the captain’s chair was the engineering consoles. A door on the far left was led to the captain’s quarters, which were the largest in the ship. But, since the captain also owned the ship, this was understandable.<br>        Samson himself was short. Fully erect, he only stood five feet seven inches above ground. This, however, didn’t hinder him at all. He was also a large, burly man, with thick strong arms and legs, and a heavy chest. He weighed more than two hundred pounds. His hair was short and straight, and has long since started to gray, dulling his once lush black hair. A clean-cut beard grew from his face, the same black that his hair once was. Samson’s eyes were sharply hazel, but large, surrounded by slight, friendly wrinkles. All together, he gave the impression of a dwarf from the medieval ages, only he was the captain of a the spaceship Herial instead of a adventuring party. <br>        A few large crumbs fell on the keyboard he was working at. He brushed them away, took another large bite of his bagel, then munched happily away at it. It was early still, so Samson was eating a light breakfast while he was working, so he didn’t have to take the time to go to the mess hall and prepare something. Not that he didn’t like to hang out in the mess hall, he just didn’t have the time, or inclination today.<br>        So Samson continued working, humming Jupiter, and eating his bagel. If the whole day went like this morning, Samson thought, it might turn out to be a pretty nice, relaxing day.<br><br>        About ten minutes later, Samson was still busily working away at his consol when Poquette stepped into the bridge. Hearing him, Samson turned to face Poquette, and stopped humming.<br>        “Hey there Poquette, what brings you to the bridge this fine morning?” asked Samson.<br>        “Oh, nothing much. The cannons needed a quick systems check, and now I a fine time to do so.”<br>        “Oh, I see. Well, I’m just finishing up a navigational correction, so don’t mind me.”<br>“Of course not, sir.”<br>        Samson smiled. Rarely did anyone on his crew call him sir. It was usually something more along the lines of ‘Samson”, ‘Jay el’, or ,’Captain’, when they were being serious. Poquette didn’t know this, of course, since he was the new guy on board, only being picked up a few weeks ago. He would learn quickly, however. Poquette was already started to grow on the crew.<br>        Poquette had moved over to his weapons consol, and was hunched over it, looking at readouts. Occasionally, he would type something, then go back to looking.<br><br>        In mere minutes, Poquette was finished initiating his systems check. He stood, stretching his arms.<br>        “Finished?” inquired Samson.<br>        “Yes, I am. But my work today is far from finished. Farewell.”<br>        “See ya later.”<br>        With that brief chat, Poquette exited the bridge.<br><br>        Another ten or so minutes passed, and there was a rumbling that rocked the ship. Samson looked up, confused, with crumbs of bagel still on his lips. He glanced back and forth, wondering why the ship shook. He checked the various panels, and came up empty; Herial wasn’t hit by anything, so what could it be?<br>        Samson stood up, and headed for the door, wanting to find out what the deal was, when it slid open before he got there. Wells walked through, coming only an within an inch of hitting smashing right into Samson. They both staggered backwards from the near-miss collision. They both laughed shakily, then addressed each other. <br>        “So,” Samson asked, “what, ah, brings you to the bridge?”<br>        “Well, I was going to do some work, but first I want to know what that rumble just now was all about.”<br>        “Yeah, I felt it too.”<br>        “So?”<br>        “The readouts show nothing.”<br>        “Damn,” wells replied, aggravated, “any ideas then?”<br>        “Not a clue,” he answered slowly.<br>        They stood there, thinking for a moment, both still standing in the back of the bridge by the doorway.<br>        “Well Wells, why don’t we go take a look around, shall we? Maybe we should even take a little stroll outside.”<br>        “Sounds like a plan.” She spun on a heel and started to shuffle out. Turning back, she said, “By the way, Samson, stop with the bad jokes.”<br>        “What do you mean?”<br>        “The ‘Well Wells’?”<br>        “Oh that. It wasn’t on purpose, honest.”<br>        “Sure captain,” she finished with a laugh.<br>        Samson followed Wells out, and the Bridge door slid shut to an empty room.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        Within minutes of Samson’s and Well’s departure, Hall and McDavis burst through the doorway. McDavis glared at Hall with a mix of aggravation and fear in his eyes.<br>        “You said Poquette would be hear! The place is empty.”<br>        “Poquette was the one who said he’d be here, I was just relaying information.”<br>        Hall started walking into the bridge, looking back and forth.<br>        “Maybe we just missed him,” he wondered. Hall looked down at the captain’s chair to see a scattering of crumbs nearby. “I know Samson was just here.”<br>        “How?”<br>        “Bagel crumbs by his chair.”<br>        “Heh. That doesn’t really help us now, does it?”<br>        “Not in the least, but it’s good to know.”<br>        “Actually, no it’s not.”<br>Hall walked over to the communications station, where Wells usually sat. Glancing at it, he turned away.<br>        “Wait, Hall, I have a great idea,” said McDavis, rushing forward and to Hall and the station. “This ship has a ship-wide speaker system, doesn’t it?”<br>        “Yeah, Samson uses-“<br>        “So we could just shout to the entire ship that I’ve got a ticking bomb in my hands and we need Poquette now, right?”<br>        It quickly dawned on Hall, “Right! Let’s do it!”<br>        He pushed a few key, then sat down so he’d be closer to the mike. Hall coughed, clearing his throat, he spoke:<br><br>        “ATTENTION CREW. EVERYONE REPORT TO THE BRIDGE THIS INSTANT, ESPECIALLY POQUETTE. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!”<br><br>        He turned to McDavis, “Was that good enough?<br>        “Just fine.”<br>        “Now we wait…”<br>         There was a tense pause, then McDavis started up, “To hell we wait! The sooner this thing is diffused the better.”<br>        “Oh, and you think you can do it, “Hall questioned.<br>        “I’ve got a chance.”<br>        “You can’t take chances with bombs.”<br>        “I’m gonna try anyway! There’s no point just waiting; it might explode before Poquette gets here!”<br>        “Fine, go ahead, I guess you’re right,” Replied Hall with a huff.<br>        McDavis nodded. She swept over to an open spot on the bridge floor, and sat down with the explosive. The LCD on the top of the simple box read only a little less than six minutes. McDavis grimaced. Six minutes would almost surely not be enough time for her to get anything done. It was really up to Poquette to get here in time…<br>        The redhead pulled two tools from her belt, and started to work. First, she took a few scans, to see what the inside of this sucker looked like. It didn’t show much. A few simple holochips, the timer mechanism, and the explosive itself. One thing she noted to herself was that the explosive was antimatter, and easily big enough to destroy the entire ship, and them some. This was one heavy duty bomb.<br>        “Well?” Hall shot at McDavis.<br>        “Shut up for once Hall, I’m trying to work.”<br>        There was no answer; Hall kept silent. McDavis, no knowing what was on the inside, was trying to actually get to it. She searched for the seam, but found none. The welding was perfect. She looked for any kind of opening, and the only one she found was where the wires went from the outside in. That wasn’t nearly enough to work with. The timer clicked down to five minutes. McDavis abruptly leaped to her feet, cursing loudly.<br>        “What? What??” Hall pushed.<br>        “There’s nothing I can do, absolutely nothing at all I can do with this damn thing! The thing is, is welded perfectly, and there are no other ways to get inside the box!”<br>        “Then we’ll just have to wait for Poquette, right?”<br>        “Right! But how long will it take for him to get here, huh? We’ve only got five damn minutes!”<br>        “Five?!” Hall hadn’t realized they used that much time. “Um, calm down, ok? I’m sure this will work on just fine. Poquette will get here in time, I’m sure of it.”<br>        “Damn you and your optimism, Hall.”<br>        Hall chuckled, then quickly fell into a fearful silence along with McDavis. Would Poquette get here in time?<br><br>        Two minutes pass; three minutes until the destruction of the ship. Hall, had been pacing around the bridge, like he always does when he’s nervous. McDavis was sitting in the weapons station, searching through the database, seeing if she could find anything at all about how to diffuse bombs. So far, nothing.<br>        Wells and Samson together entered the bridge. Hall and McDavis perked up, then rushed to the entrance.<br>        “So, what’s the problem?” Samson wondered.<br>        “We’ve got a bomb!”<br>        “A bomb?!” said Wells.<br>        “Yes, a bomb! Didn’t you hear me?!”<br>        “Sorry, sheesh…”<br>        “How long do we have,” Samson asked, keeping his cool.<br>        “About three minutes,” answered McDavis.<br>        “Only three?” spoke Wells quietly<br>        “Yes, three and counting,” Repeated McDavis, “All we need now is that stupid Poquette. The only one on the damn ship that would know how to diffuse this thing.”<br>        “He was just with us a moment ago.” Said Wells.<br>        “Only one and a half minutes to go…” interrupted McDavis.<br>“Yeah, where did he slip off to…” wondered Samson.<br>“Right here, sir.” Poquette answered as he stepped through the open bridge doors.<br>        “Thank god you’re here, “yelled McDavis, “over here, and quickly!”<br>Poquette ambled over towards McDavis, who had picked up the metal box.<br>        “What’s the problem?”<br>        “What’s the problem, what’s the problem?! I’m holding a bomb in my hands and you ask me what’s the problem?!”<br>        “Um, ok, uh, just give me the explosive, Jennifer, and I’ll see what I can do about it.”<br>        “You bet you will!”<br>Poquette studied the bomb.<br>        “I’ve already done a few scans,” said McDavis, thrusting the readouts into Poquette’s hand. He glanced them over, then went back to the box.<br>        “It doesn’t matter what’s in the inside,” he said, “what matters is on the outside. These wires.”<br>        McDavis rolled her eyes. She knew that already. She just thought the readouts might help him, somehow.<br>Poquette examined the bunch of wires closely. There were many of them, all of different colors. After filing though almost every one, he pick one.<br>        “Here, this needs to be cut.”<br>        “Finally!” McDavis almost screamed, then gave him the clippers.<br>        Everyone else watched with anticipation. They knew Poquette was good, but was he good enough to diffuse an antimatter bomb in less than a minute? They would all find out soon enough. They’d either be leaping for joy at his success, or floating in space as a few clumps of atoms.<br>        Poquette took the clippers, and lightly snipped the red wire in half. The timer stopped. It showed fifteen seconds. An audible sigh was breathed by all mouths. Hall and Wells hugged, and McDavis and Samson raised their arms and let out a cry of happiness. After a minute of congratulation for Poquette, Samson strode up to the front-center of the bridge.<br>        “Alright, everyone, you can leave now, the ship is safe. I’d like to talk to everyone about today’s events in the mess hall a little later. I’ll tell y’all via the speaker.” He turned to Poquette. “You look like you need some rest. Try to get some, ok?”<br>        “Thanks, sir.”<br>        One by one, the crew of the Herial starship strode out of the bridge, back to whatever they were doing before. McDavis picked up the now unthreatening bomb with her when she left. Hall took one last look inside the bridge, then left last.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        Not quite ten minutes went by before another soul entered the bridge. As Poquette rushed through the doorway, he started by saying, “Quick! There’s been an… accident.”<br>        When he saw that nobody was in the room, a smile curled onto this lips. He regained his posture, and stepped out.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        A little more than ten minutes passed when the ship shook violently. Readouts all over the bridge blared to life, glowing with stark colors, showing that something was indeed wrong. The large monitor displayed images of the ship, and where fires had started, and where damage was spreading to. The fires and explosions were all over the ship in less then a second. In an even shorter time, the alarm rang, and the ship rattled for the last time.<br>        In a deafening boom that was quickly silenced by the vacuum of space, the ship exploded, sending chunks of metal and debris into the surrounding space.<br><br> <br><br> <br><br>Chapter three<br>Engineering<br><br>        The starship Herial’s antimatter drive was a very complex piece of machinery. It combined the newest technological breakthroughs with the latest in scientific theories. Since it was so complex, someone on the ship needed to know every bit of knowledge about the engine. That person was Jennifer McDavis. She was tall, a little over 5’9”, strong, but thin. Her weight was only 120 pounds. Her hair was long, and bright, wild red. McDavis had a sharpness about her, in both features in personality. This sometimes caused others to clash with her, making her difficult to deal with. That was one reason McDavis liked to stay in engineering so much, because she could be alone with what she really loved to do – work with machines. Her eyes were green, which matched the shirt that she wore. She almost always wore a green tank-top and khaki pants. They were comfortable, and easy to maneuver in, which is just what she needed. Another quirk of hers is that she always wore steel-toed boots, just so she wouldn’t hurt her feet when kicking something, or someone.<br>        The engineering section was one of the largest in the ship. The back wall was taken up by the massive antimatter reactor, which powered all the ship’s functions as well as the engine itself. Most of the other space was occupied by monitors and other stations. The left and right walls had doorways on them, each leading to a different storage area. Engineering had a storage room to itself, to store all the extra parts and equipment that were needed to run the ship smoothly.<br>        She had already eaten breakfast before anyone else had awoken, just so she wouldn’t have to share the mess hall with the others. Hopefully things would go smoothly today, she thought.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        About ten minutes later, Hall wandered into through the doorways into main engineering.<br>        “So, you’re finally here. How was breakfast?” asked McDavis.<br>        “Eh, the usual. Bowl a cereal, glass a milk, and a muffin.”<br>        “A muffin? That’s not the usual.”<br>        Hall laughed. “Oh, so you noticed. No, it’s not, but I felt like one today.”<br>        “Let me guess: Wells was having a muffin and you decided to get one too.”<br>        “Well…” he diverted his eyes.<br>        “Ha! I’m right. Nothin’ to worry about, hm? You came here to help me with maintenance, right?”<br>        “Um, yeah, that’s right, that’s what I’m here for.” Hall answered. For some reason, his face was a bit redder than normal, but it soon passed.<br>        “So get down here on your knees and help me, you lazy bum!”<br>        “I’m coming, McDavis, sheesh, what’s the rush?”<br>        “We have to keep the engines in tip-top shape, eh?”<br>        “Yeah, you’re right.”<br>        Hall meandered to the engine, which was where McDavis was impatiently waiting. They both hunkered down and slid underneath the engine so they could work on it’s insides. As they worked, McDavis tried to make a little conversation. Hall was one of the few people she liked talking to.<br>        “So Thomas, how have things been going lately?”<br>        “Not bad, I’d say. Piloting hasn’t been a problem for a long time, and business is good, or so Samson says. This latest shipment is gonna bring in a boatload of cash, which is exactly what we need. I like this ship, but it’s falling down on repairs.”<br>        “Preaching to the choir. I work my ass off all day, and sometimes all night just to keep this bucket flying.” Changing the subject, she asked, “So how’s the new guy?”<br>        “Poquette? He’s pretty nice, though a little quiet. I tried out one of my stories on him today-“<br>        “Wait, let me guess, the Allerbik-blaster one, right?”<br>        Hall growled a laugh out, “It is my favorite story! The new guy has to hear it!”<br>        McDavis laughed in response, “I’m not arguing with ya, you’re just way too predictable.”<br>        “Predictable isn’t necessarily a bad thing, is it?”<br>        “No, not at all, if you like someone boring.”<br>        “Hey!”<br>        “I’m just kidding! Don’t take it so personally.”<br>        The two of them continue working diligently on the engines. They weren’t as bad as McDavis claimed; all they needed was a tune-up, so to speak.<br>        A slight rumble made it’s way though the ship to Hall and McDavis.<br>        “What was that?” Hall nervously asked. If anything happened to the antimatter reactor, then the whole ship could explode.<br>        “I don’t know, some sort of rumble, I guess. Maybe we were hit by a stray chunk of debris?”<br>        “Could be… I’ll have to check with Samson after I’m done here, see what it is.”<br>        “Good idea. Once you find out, don’t forget to tell me, I’m just as curious as you are.”<br>        The pilot and engineer resumed their maintenance work, just as before. <br>        Hall was on his back at the moment, looking up into the coolant system, checking out a slight leak. Thomas Hall was tall, almost 6’2” and very strong. Muscles bulged from his shirt sleeves as he worked off the paneling. But the muscle was lean, from long days working tirelessly on the ship. He wore an undershirt at the moment, since he was working physically, but normally he had his flight jacket on. It was a black, white, and blue jacket, all the way from his flight school days. His pants were flight pants, which he seemed to love, even though they are not considered to be very comfortable. He, oddly enough, wore shoes, not boots. Hall’s hair was short, and sandy brown in color. His eyes were blue, and very keen. Hall’s vision was the best on the ship, which was appropriate, him being the pilot. He is quite intelligent, despite the way he acts around the others. He slept his way through most of school, but he still got great marks. But piloting was his forte. Hall went to a piloting school after the standard secondary education, and was one of the best flyboys in his class. All this combined made Thomas one of the cockiest guys around. He knew he was good, and liked to show it. In any case, Hall is a fun-loving guy, and makes light of all but the most dire situations.<br>        Hall finally got the paneling off of the coolant system access point. Meanwhile, McDavis was working on the hydrogen flow regulators. As the young man dug around the coolant system, he bumped into a shoebox sized metal box. Now, this is very strange, since normally shoebox sized boxes aren’t just stuck in coolant systems. He dug it out, and was holding it his hands, turning it to take a better look.<br>        It was flat, plain metal, with a bunch of wires sticking out one side, and an LCD on the top. It read a time: about ten minutes. Hall already had an inkling of an idea what this was, and that worried him.<br>        “H-hey, McDavis, you don’t suppose you know what this is, and why it was stuck in the coolant system by chance, would you?”<br>        Her eyes widened, but all she said was, “Give it here, let me get a better look at it.”<br>        Hall slide it over to her, where she took a quick glance at it then yelled, “@#%$!”<br>        “So I’m right, aren’t I? It’s a bomb!”<br>        “Hell yes!”<br>        “Do you know anything about bombs?” he said quickly.<br>        “No, not a thing!” she shot back, “but I bet Poquette does.”<br>        “He is the weapons specialist and all.”<br>        McDavis was already sliding herself and the box out. “C’mon Hall, what are you waiting for, we need to go find him!”<br>        “Right!”<br>        Hall pushed himself out from under the engine. McDavis was already on her feet, ready to go. “Where’d you last see him?”<br>        Without thinking, he answered, “The mess hall, eating breakfast with me.”<br>        “To the mess hall!” she said, running, albeit carefully, out of the engineering main room. Hall followed in a dash.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        The air inside the engineering bay was filled with a nervous silence, left behind by the pilot and engineer. Minutes fly by when the ship’s internal speakers blared,<br><br>        “ATTENTION CREW. EVERYONE REPORT TO THE BRIDGE THIS INSTANT, ESPECIALLY POQUETTE. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!”<br><br>        The room fell into a rough silence; the reactor and engine still hummed lowly away.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        Approximately ten minutes later, Poquette, marched into engineering, followed by a huffy McDavis.<br>        “So you’re going to install it again?” McDavis weakly asked.<br>        “Yes, of course. Hall found the first one, right?”<br>        “That’s what happened.”<br>        “So hopefully, this time, nobody will find it, and everything will goes as planned.”<br>        “Sid, I-“<br>        “What?”<br>        McDavis let her anger spill, “I can’t take this anymore damnit! You bossing me around for one, walking into my space and doing all this @#%$. Plus, do you know how hard it is to lie to my friends? Of course not, because these people are not your fiends, they’re mine. I had a painful time trying to act as if I never saw that bomb before, when Hall found it. Then, not being able to diffuse it when it was about to destroy the ship. Do you know how that felt?”<br>        “No, of course not.”<br>        “I couldn’t stand it! I was waiting and waiting and waiting for you to arrive so you could diffuse the bomb, because you’re the weapon specialist. I, of course, am only the engineer, so I wouldn’t know how to diffuse a bomb. If you didn’t come in ten more seconds, we all would’ve been gonners, not just the ship!”<br>        “It was more like fifteen seconds.”<br>        “Damnit!! This is what I mean! You’re a heartless bastard.”<br>        “It goes with the job description, Jennifer. Did you expect different?”<br>        “I expected you to be at least a normal human being.”<br>        “Then I’m sorry I didn’t live up to your expectations.”<br>        “Hmph.”<br>        An awkward pause floated through the room. McDavis had her arms crossed, and a scowl lined her face. Poquette was ever-calm, as usual, which was pissing McDavis off even more.<br>        “I might not be able to go through with this, Sidney.”<br>        Poquette looked up, “Why’s that?”<br>        “Lying to my friends, destroying the ship, it might just be too much. Too much to do just for you.”<br>        “You know as well as I that there’s a higher purpose.”<br>        “Only one you care about, remember, not me.”<br>        “So what are you going to do about it, McDavis?”<br>        “I don’t really know…start out by telling Samson about this mess. Then, I don’t know…I don’t want you hurt. Probably just drop you off at the next planet.”<br>        “Sorry Jenny, can’t do that. The mission has to go through.”        <br>        “No! It’s final now, Poquette!” She said his name with the force of a kick to the stomach, filled with contempt, “No more of this sabotage business, I want out!” <br>        “Then you’ll get out,” Poquette replied, and pulled out a blaster, and pulled the trigger, aiming right at McDavis’ stomach. The blaster fired a powerful microwave beam. The way it damaged McDavis was by heating up the point of impact to such a degree that it literally cooked her, inside out. A gruesome, charred crater formed where her stomach used to be. McDavis looked down in shock, then back up to Poquette. She mouthed, ‘How could you, damnit.’ Then fell over, soon to die.<br>        Poquette walked up to her body, looking down. As if answering her, he spoke, “I couldn’t let you jeopardize the mission. Sorry Jenny.” His voice was just as calm as ever. Sickeningly calm.<br>        Jennifer McDavis watched her attacker as her last moments of life slipped away. Thoughts of many things flew through her head. Her friends, this ship, what happened this morning, and more. But the one thing that stood out the most was her spiteful anger and hatred towards Poquette at that very moment.<br>        He looked down one last time, to see the life drain from her eyes. Once he was convinced she was no longer alive, he holstered his blaster. Poquette took the bomb he was carrying over to the antimatter reactor, and placed it right underneath, in the hydrogen flow regulators. He looked at the small detonator that he had in his hand, then pocketed it. Looking once again down at McDavis’ body, he shook his head, then left engineering.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        Only about twelve minutes passed after McDavis’ death. The bomb Poquette had planted under the reactor detonated, sending the antimatter into a fury of reactions. The engineering room was the first to go as the power went out and the antimatter continued to quickly annihilate itself. Within less than a second, the ship had blown itself apart, leaving only bits and chunks of metal, some vaporous air, and other debris.<br><br> <br><br> <br><br>Chapter four<br>Docking Bay<br><br>        The docking bay was empty, and hadn’t been used since the day before. This room is the largest in the ship, by far. It could actually fit another, smaller ship inside of it, though it usually did not. Since the Herial was a merchant transport, they needed to have a big docking bay for cargo. At that time, it had a few containers in the far front of the bay. The room was shaped like a knife. In the back was a door to the engineering’s storage, and the wall was flat. Reaching across the wide expanse of empty storage, the room curved into a point. In front of that point laid the left cannon. The docking bay doors filled almost the entire left wall. There was only one human-sized doorway, which was near the storage room entrance. The massive docking bay door also was adorned with windows, as so the crew could see the ships that were transferring their materials on board.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        The door to the corridors slid open and Poquette treaded lightly into the large room. He looked left, then right, then left again and headed for the storage room entrance. Walking through, he quickly found what he sought. He flopped down on a bench with an EVA suit, and started to cloth himself in it.<br>        Poquette snuggled the boot over his own, and made sure it was securely sealed. It was early morning, the perfect time for a little bit of unscheduled extra-vehicular-activity. In other words, a space walk. Hall and Wells were still eating breakfast, Samson was in the bridge doing some navigational change, and McDavis was maintaining the engine. Poquette was alone. He finally got the last glove of his EVA suit on, then placed the helmet snugly over his head. The suit was a light gray, and bulky. Nothing compared to the first EVA suits, but still much heavier than normal clothing.<br>        He clomped over to the man-sized entrance to the outside. On the panel to his right, he punched in the auto EVA sequence, then pulled the door open, and walked into the soon-to-be vacuum chamber. He could hear the hiss of the air rushing out of the room, and a slight chill creep over his body. The outside door slid open, beckoning him outside.<br>        Once into the vacuum of space, he slowly made his way up to the large communications array. This was the only piece of equipment that could communicate outside of the ship. Once there, he took a small metal box out of his suit pocket, and magnetically connected it to the array. Calmly, Poquette sauntered down to the entrance he just left, and opened it.<br>        The rush of air as the vacuum lifted was a relief. Making his way back to the storage room, he popped the helmet, and began to take off the gloves. Once in the storage room, he retrieved the detonator from the pocket, and held it in his hand. He lightly pressed the small red button on the front.<br>        Within a moment, a rumbled echoed through the ship. Poquette thought he had the explosives set to the right amount, but he must have been off, or else the rumble would not have happened. At least the communications were gone, which was the objective of this ordeal.<br>        He stripped the EVA suit off, and hung it back up where he had found it. He didn’t want to be in the suit any more than he needed to, for more than one reason. First, he didn’t like how it felt, and second, he didn’t want to be caught in it.<br>        Finally getting the last boot off, Poquette advanced towards the doorway. He almost crashed into Samson and Wells, who were walking into the docking bay right then.<br>        “Poquette!” sounded Wells, “what are you doing here?”<br>        “Yes,” agreed Samson, “we would like to know.”<br>        “I was just,” explained Poquette, “taking a shortcut into the engineering storage, so I wouldn’t have to disturb McDavis.”<br>        “Oh really,” asked Samson.<br>        Wells just laughed. “Typical. I don’t always want to be around McDavis either.”<br>        “Anyway, Poquette, we were coming here to check out that rumble that happened just a minute ago. Have any ideas?”<br>        Poquette thought for a second, “Not a clue.”<br>        “Maybe you’d care to take an EVA with me, so that Wells can monitor us from inside?”<br>        “No thanks, I don’t like EVAs much. Try Hall, isn’t that his kind of thing?”<br>        “You bet it is,” Wells said, giggling, “don’t ever get him started on his space walks; he’ll go on for hours.”<br>        Poquette laughed, “I’ll be sure not to.”<br>        “We should go get Hall, don’cha think so, Elizabeth?”<br>        “Yeah, sounds good captain.”<br>        They both laugh a little, keeping the mood light, then turn around and start for the doorway again. Poquette was about to follow when a message sounded through the ship’s internal speakers:<br><br>        “ATTENTION CREW. EVERYONE REPORT TO THE BRIDGE THIS INSTANT, ESPECIALLY POQUETTE. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!”<br><br>        Poquette stopped in his tracks. Why would they need him?<br>        Well’s voice snapped him out of his thought, “Didn’t you hear your name, let’s go, now!”<br>        “Yes, agreed,” he replied.<br>        Together, Wells and Samson left. Trailing them was Poquette, who stopped momentarily to dispose of the detonation device.<br><br>* * *<br><br>        About eight minutes flew by before Hall and Samson entered the docking bay.<br>        “So you want to check for damage, huh?” inquired Hall.<br>        “Yeah, didn’t you feel the rumble?”<br>        “Yup, and I was meaning to ask you about it, but the bomb scare sidetracked me.”<br>        “I don’t have a clue. That’s why I want to do an EVA.”<br>        “With only two people.”<br>        “Yeah, unless Wells or somebody pops up. Two is no big deal. You don’t have to have a monitor from inside.”<br>        “True.”<br>        They lumbered towards the same storage that Poquette had just used, when Wells popped through the doorway.<br>        “Hey, wait up guys!”<br>        They turn to face her as she jogged up to them.<br>        “You’re just in time,” said Hall, “we need another person for an EVA.”<br>        “Why an EVA?” she asked.<br>        “To see what caused that rumble, of course,” said Hall, interrupting Samson who was about to say the same thing.<br>        “Let’s do it then,” said Wells, “that’s been bugging me ever since it happened.”<br>        “Righto. You can stay and monitor from inside, while Hall and I go out. Sound good Wells?”<br>        “Just fine.”<br>        “Great.”<br>        The pilot and captain continued on their way to the storage, to get the EVA suits, while Wells hiked over to the monitoring station, and got ready for the two men to leave the ship.<br>        In a few minutes, they were ready, the light gray suits covering their normal clothes. They looked to Wells for the go, and she gave them a thumbs up. They were go. Samson opened the airlock door, and stepped inside. Hall followed.<br>        Wells watched, feeling a mixture of boredom and anticipation. She was sure something was wrong, but did not know exactly what. Hopefully those two would find out.<br>        Outside the ship, magnetically walking up the side, Samson said, “So Hall, what do you think caused the rumble?”<br>        “My guess? Hmm, that’s a touchy. Before I woud’ve said a stay chunk of rock, but since the bomb threat…It could very well be sabotage.”<br>        Samson sighed, “I was thinking the very same thing.”<br>As they neared the communications array, they saw the damage instantly. The entire array had been blown apart, which meant they had no communications.<br>        Together, they said, “I was right!”<br>        “But by who?” wondered Samson.<br>        “Someone in the crew?”<br>        “Not very likely.”<br>        “Then we have a stowaway.”<br>        “That makes matters even worse.”<br>        “Let’s get back inside, I’m feeling nervous just standing here with all these implications flying through the air.”<br>        Samson nodded in agreement. As they started back down, they heard a yelp on their comms. It came from Wells.<br>        “Oh, ah, hi there,” stuttered Wells as Poquette entered the docking bay. He only moments before looked terrified and shocked, but all that changed. Now he had a strange smile on his face.<br>        “Hello Wells. What’s going on here?”<br>        “Just an EVA to check on the communications array, nothing special.”<br>        He took a step forward, “Oh, but it is?”<br>        Wells took a step back, away from the consol, “How?”<br>        “You see, I was the one who destroyed the array.”<br>        At this point, she took a great leap back, and yelped again.<br>        “So you’re-“<br>        “The saboteur, correct. Well, McDavis was working with me, but she had an ‘accident’.”<br>        “W-what do you mean?”<br>        “I mean I killed her, just like I will you.” He whipped out his blaster. “I’ll trap Samson and Hall outside, and then complete my mission.”<br>        “And what mission is that?” asked Wells. She gripped something behind her back.<br>        “All in due time, Elizabeth.”<br>        “You have no right to call me by my first name, you bastard,” said Wells, and she threw a screwdriver right at Poquette’s gun. He was so surprised that it was actually on target that he forgot to move, and the blaster was knocked from his hand. Wells rushed over to the monitoring station, and yelled at Samson and Hall to get it. Samson was the first through the doorway.<br>        Poquette was sprinting to retrieve his gun when Samson ran up behind him. Poquette spun around, shoving the blaster in captain’s face. With a grimace, he punched Poquette right in the nose.<br>        “That’s for McDavis,” he said lowly.<br>        The gun went flying again, and Samson and Poquette hurled themselves into a fistfight. Poquette had the advantage of speed, and agility, but Samson was very strong. The EVA suit helped take some of the blows, too.<br>        While those two were duking it out, Wells was helping Hall out of the airlock. Poquette caught a glance of them between attacks. He backed off away from Samson, and took out a small detonator. Samson backed away. The saboteur reached down and picked up his blaster, and pointed it at them all.<br>        “Now you’re done for,” he started. “You already know I destroyed the combinations array, and that I killed dear Jenny. But I’ll go as far as killing you all if it’s needed to complete my mission!” Never before was Poquette so lively in his speech.<br>        “What mission?” Wells repeated.<br>        “You’d like me to go ahead and explain what I’ve been trying to do, so you can think of some way to stop me, right? Well it’s not going to happen. I WILL destroy this ship, and nothing, will get in my way!”<br>        “You’re mad! Why destroy the ship?” asked Hall.<br>        “Be quiet! As soon as I press this button, a bomb will explode underneath the reactor and start a chain reaction that will destroy your ship.” He smiled, “say your last words.”<br>        “Did you count on this?!” yelled Samson, who had a blaster pointed at Poquette’s head. His eyes widened and he dived to the side. Samson fired. The blaster Poquette was holding fell to the ground, still connected to the arm Samson just blew off.<br>        “There’s no way to win now, Poquette. Just drop the detonator and we’ll work things out.”<br>        “You wish! Goodbye, Herial!”<br>        “No!” screamed Samson as he dived on top of Poquette. They grappled on the ground. Samson was trying to keep Poquette from pressing the button, while Poquette was trying to do the opposite. Hall and Wells stood nearby, helplessly.<br>        “Just get off of the ship! There’s no time!” Samson struggled to say.<br>        “We can’t just leave you here!”<br>        “Yes, you can! If I’m gonna die, I’m gonna go with a bang, with my ship! Now go, that’s an order!”<br>        Hall and Wells almost had to laugh. Samson virtually never gave out orders.<br>        “Good luck, captain.” Hall and Wells yelled behind them. They ran to an escape capsule, and started it up. It shot from the ship and into space.<br>        The last two people on the ship alive, Samson and Poquette, continued their grapple. Poquette was loosing, since he only had one arm. But in the end, the button was pressed.<br>        Poquette laughed. “In ten seconds, the ship explodes. Goodbye, sir.”<br>        Samson gave him a final punch in the face, knocking Poquette out.<br>        “Goodbye, you son of a bitch.”<br><br>        The bomb exploded, sending shockwaves through the ship. The cargo started to tumble over, and the massive frame of the ship started to buckle. Within less than a second, the entire ship Herial was engulfed in an antimatter explosion. Hall and Wells saw the whole thing from space. <br>        “Goodbye, Herial,” Thomas Hall repeated, thinking of their now dead captain.<br>        The shock finally fell upon them both, and they held each other in the small spacecraft, crying for their lost friends. <br> <p><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:xx-small;"><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em> And when time had been finally been devoured,<br>The world slipped into her turbulent rest.<br>So here lies the now lifeless Change,<br>Waiting for a day in which the world is ready to errupt again.</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></p><i></i>
