The King's Ghosts v2a by McCaffrey Todd

Author:McCaffrey, Todd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Foxxe Frey Books
Published: 2022-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Captain, we’ve got a problem, Margaret Ellis thought in a worried tone thirty-two minutes later. These engines are buggered and ECLSS reports a ten percent leak.

Ten percent in how long?

Since we left orbit, Miz. Margaret paused, adding, I wonder if they built her this way on purpose.

Could be, Owami thought back. They were pretty easy on our paperwork. Didn’t check too hard.

Why check when your crew is going to die? Margaret guessed.

How long do we have?

I wouldn’t expect us to survive the jump to hyper.

Shit. Owami thought in reply. She really wished that she could now communicate as easily with Morgan as she could with Margaret. But, she’d made plans. Waiting until she was sure that Morgan could see her, she groaned theatrically and doubled over. Everyone on the small bridge turned to her. She waved a hand blindly, trying to reassure them as she said, “Those tacos last night —” and she rushed out of her seat, looking around wildly for the nearest head. Hennig glared at her and waved her away, saying, “Don’t be too long!”

“It’s just an emergency evacuation,” Owami assured him as she rushed off the deck, “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” There: message delivered. She heard ‘Easy’ snort behind her.

“Back to your stations,” Hennig ordered, “the show’s over.”

Owami slammed open the door to the restroom but didn’t enter, instead racing down toward the boat bay. She got there in minutes and found that Margaret was ahead of her, their shuttle powered up.

“We’re going to need to override the command deck,” Margaret told her, “to get the bay doors open.”

Owami grimaced. “What’s the head count?”

“Real or fake?” Margaret asked.

“Real,” Owami said. “I know there’s a cook and at least two more spacers but I don’t know if there’s any people in the ‘cargo.’” She rushed out of the shuttle, calling after her, “Keep prepping, I’ll handle the override.”

Owami went into the boat bay control center. The lights flicked on automatically. She powered up the panels, and frowned as she figured the way to jimmy the controls so that the command deck was cut out of the signals loop. Satisfied that she’d got it, she re-routed the door controls to a remote access point. Try connecting to Hyacinth now, Owami told Margaret.

Hyacinth, Margaret repeated, concentrating on her controls. Got it! It’s looking good, skipper!

How long until we’re ready?

Now, if you want, Margaret told her.

Owami punched up the all-hail. “Break! Break! The game is afoot! Count ‘em if possible, but we’ve got thirty.”

#

“What the hell?” Hennig shouted up at the speakers as ‘Spacer Mann’ called out. He glared at ‘Easy’, “Is your friend some sort of junkie, Easy?”

‘Easy Run’, Spacer Slater, shook his head, rising from his chair and waving toward Morgan. “No, sir, she’s a ghost.”

“This ship is faulty,” Morgan said as she rose from her chair, “she’s leaking air and she’s gonna blow if we try to go to hyper.”

Hennig’s brows crashed like thunder and he rose from his chair, “Who the hell told you that?”

“How many others are on the ship, including ‘cargo’?” Morgan asked.

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