Chapter 12: Mystery Cargo

Nyk lay in his bunk, eyes wide open. Andra lay beside, her back to him. He looked at the clock. Nadir-one, he thought, and wondered what sort of graveyard watch was kept on this bucket.

He nudged Andra. “Wake up.”

“What?”

“Something’s been bothering me. Our mission was to return home with that Letter of Intent.”

“Which we are doing.”

“There was no mention during any of our talks of returning with Varadan goods — no mention during any of our briefings. And, there’s Tomyka trying to change the mission plans. If she had her way, we’d still be on Varada and this craft would be heading home without us.”

“That’s why I’m so happy you stared her down. I spent all the time on that planet I could stand.”

“That’s not it. I think something’s going on — something we weren’t supposed to witness. And, I think we should take a look at the cargo we’re hauling. Call it more intelligence gathering.”

“What time is it?”

“Nadir-one standard — halfway through second watch. Are you coming with me? It’s a chance to see if your grain-for-minerals theory holds any water.”

She yawned. “Now that I’m wide awake I suppose...”

“Then, put some clothes on.” He opened a drawer and withdrew a handheld lamp.

The deck two corridor was empty. Nyk called the lift and looked at the control panel. “Deck five — cargo hold,” he said. “Let’s look there.”

The lift carried them to the deck directly above the warp coil and fusion reactors. “Tread softly,” he said. “Engineering is manned around the clock. Footsteps would be transmitted through this metal decking.” Andra nodded.

He swung his lamp around the hold. “Empty,” Andra said.

“That makes no sense,” he replied. He scanned the hold from stem to stern, and from port to starboard. “Just one big empty ... room. I don’t know how many shuttles landed. They were offloading something.”

“What’s one deck up?” she asked.

“Shuttle bay — and settlers’ barracks.”

“This ship has a skeleton crew,” she replied. Maybe they left the cargo in the shuttle bay.”

“Maybe...”

He returned to the lift and called the car. The liftcar doors opened.

He pressed the panel for deck four. A scanpad lit up.

“Deck four is locked out,” Andra said.

“I don’t dare a wristscan. The captain said decks four through six are off-limits to us. I’m sure we’re not authorized and a scan could trigger an alarm.”

“Zane didn’t need a wristscan when he brought us through here on that tour.”

“That’s right — this is something new...”

“ ... and suspicious,” she added. “What do we do? Go back down and use the freight lift?”

“That would make way too much noise.” He cancelled the call and pressed the panel for deck three. “With my scale models, I’m probably as familiar with this tub’s layout as a crewman...”

The lift carried them up. He exited and led her down the corridor. “Is there another lift?” she asked.

“No. There are ‘tweendecks ladderways, but I’m sure they’re locked. This way...”

He led her down the corridor, past doorways labeled Sick Bay, Crew Mess and Galley. They approached a bulkhead with a door marked Passengers’ Mess. He pressed the actuator and another scanpad illuminated. “It’s locked, too.”

“Why would we want to go in there?” Andra asked.

“If we were on a seeding mission, we’d have five hundred settlers on board. Five hundred passengers who need to be fed. Five hundred of them going up and down from the barracks to the mess hall might tie up that one lift — and interfere with the running of the ship.”

“So, that makes you think there might be a passageway between the mess hall and the deck below?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I know so...”

He led her in the opposite direction, toward the galley, and pressed the actuator. Yet another scanpad lit up. “I’m going to take my chances with this one,” he said. “They wouldn’t begrudge us a midnight snack, would they?”

He pressed his wrist against the scanpad. It chirped and the door slid open. “Quietly,” he whispered. “The captain’s cabin is directly overhead.” Nyk swung his lamp around the galley, illuminating stasis cabinet after stasis cabinet and banks of warmers. “They need lots of meals on a seeding mission,” he whispered. “The pantry is on the other side, under the first officer’s cabin.” Nyk approached a doorway in the galley’s forward bulkhead. “The mess hall is behind here.”

He pressed the actuator to open the door and a scanpad illuminated. “We’re not having any luck,” he muttered.

“The story of our lives,” Andra remarked.

“There must be another way in there...” He swung his lamp and stopped the beam on an arch over the serving counter. “That’s where the galley mates pass out the meals,” he whispered.

A chirp came from the galley door. Andra grabbed and squeezed his shoulder. Nyk doused his lamp and the two of them froze, their backs against the bulkhead and behind some stasis cabinets.

The ambient lighting came on. Footsteps entered the galley. Nyk heard someone open a cabinet, rummage around inside and close it. The footsteps crossed to the warmers. The warmer door opened, closed and the keypad beeped. The door opened again, then the footsteps grew distant. The ambient lighting switched off and the galley door slid shut.

Nyk switched on his lamp and probed around the archway. A tambour grille closed the passage off from the mess hall. He shone his lamp through the grille and scanned the empty mess hall. Long tables were folded into their stowed positions against the inside of the hull.

“If I can figure out how to open this,” he said, “I think we’ll be in business...” Nyk focused his lamp on a latch. He pressed his palm against it and it released, then he worked his fingers under the grate.

“Careful,” Andra whispered.

Nyk lifted the grate. He hopped onto the serving counter and swung his feet to the deck. Andra clambered over the barrier and stood beside him. Then, Nyk leaned over the counter, pulled on the grate and began rolling it down. “I’m going to leave it unlatched,” he said, “in case we need to exit the way we came in.”