Part 18 (1/2)

”I don't know. If we turn from the path and avert disaster, how do I know what would have happened if we had stayed the other course?”

”How certain are you of these feelings?”

”When you are hungry, yon know it, yes?”

She nodded, pleased that she understood the concept of hunger on more than an intellectual level. If she forgot to eat, a hollowness in her belly reminded her, and if she ignored her body's need for nourishment, the ache turned into severe discomfort. Tasty foods had always been close by, so she thought of the hunger/feeding cycle as one of the pleasures of being human.

”This feeling is not the same as hunger,” Kirek said, ”but I recognise it as strong and clear.”

”Thank you for telling me. You sleep now.” Her last state was unnecessary. The experience clearly exhausted him and Kirek was already asleep.

Chapter Ten.

No longer webbed in on the bridge, Zical was free to pace while his crew worked to figure out what was wrong with the hyperdrive. Meanwhile, he needed to send back a report on the s.h.i.+p's status to Kahn and Tessa and to explain Kirek's prognostication, a prediction that could delay their journey to the galactic rim by years.

Zical didn't know whether he believed in prophecy, but he had been part of a healing circle when Kirek's mother had been pregnant with the boy. Even before his birth, Kirek had demonstrated a psi unlike no other. When he'd added his psi to the rest of the family a powers, his dominant energy force had helped save both Tessa's and Kahn's lives. So Zical didn't discount the boy's words, but he wished he could make a decision on whether or not to return to hypers.p.a.ce based on science. Eager to hear what Dora might have learned from further conversation with the boy, he put off his report to Mystique.

”Purple alert.” Ranth's voice resonated throughout the bridge. Warning lights blinked. ”Purple ale-”

In mid-warning Ranth's voice went silent.

”What's wrong?” Zical spun, his gaze searching the monitors. He saw nothing on the viewscreen to warrant a warning. No s.h.i.+ps in regular s.p.a.ce. No s.h.i.+ps coming out of hypers.p.a.ce either.

Ranth remained silent. Then every monitor on the bridge died. Every light, every hum, every vibration ceased as if some s.p.a.ce creature had wrapped them in an invisible net and smothered their machines.

”Status?” Zical snapped.

”Hyperdrive is down,” Vax reported. ”Ranth is down. s.h.i.+elds aren't functioning.

Weapons are off-line.”

”Shannon let out a sharp scream. Zical glanced her way to see that she'd careened into the ceiling and was scrambling for a handhold. Naked.

All of them were naked, their suits shedding from their bodies like old snakeskin.

Shapeless, the suites floated around the bridge.

”What in the stars is going on?” Zical asked, more concerned about the s.h.i.+p than his modesty. Never in the Federation history had the Perceptive Ones' suits been known to fail all at once was not only bizarre, but life-threatening.

Vax frowned. ”Our suits have been deactivated along with the s.h.i.+p.”

Weightless, not from the null-grav in his suit but from the effects of deep s.p.a.ce, Zical tried to adjust to the differences. With the suit he employed psi to activate null- 107.

grav, now he had to use his muscles instead. The adjustment wasn't easy. He either overcompensated or underreached and finally held firmly to a console to steady his position.

Shannon spoke, her voice pitched high. ”Don't look at me. Don't-”

”Life support?” Zical kept his voice calm, knowing his crew would imitate his demeanor. But the sinking feeling in his gut warned him their difficulties were only beginning. Stars.h.i.+ps were equipped for humans with suits and psi abilities, the decks connected by vertical tubes that his crew traversed by employing the null grav in their suits. Now they would have to use muscles to navigate, and their movements would be slow and ungainly compared to using their psi, but they must accustom themselves to the change.

Worse, without suits to protect them from the pressure differences, solar radiation, and lack of oxygen, they couldn't survive for long if life support went down with the other systems. They couldn't even leave the s.h.i.+p to make external repairs.

At the sound of dripping liquid on the deck, Zical realized they had other problems too. The suits not only expanded their lifetimes tenfold, clothed them, protected them from harsh temperature and pressure differentials, and filtered the air they breathed, the suits kept than clean and absorbed bodily wastes. Since there had never been a suit failure in recorded Federation history, and since every citizen wore a suit from birth until death, no stars.h.i.+p contained waste or bathing facilities.

Shannon was trying to cover her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with her hands, her face flushed bright red.

His crew tried not to look at one another. But nudity was the least of their problems.

Zical realized he'd lost the opportunity to even report the nature of their emergency to those back on Mystique. They were on their own.

”What'd the status of life support?” he asked.

Vax stood and carefully raised his hand to an air vent. Air circulation appears operational. I can't be certain with Ranth and our monitors down.”

”Do we have any other functioning equipment on this s.h.i.+p?” Zical asked.

The s.h.i.+p shuddered and he tightened his hold on the console in order to stay on his feet. Others hadn't adjusted so quickly. They'd automatically relied on their psi to compensate, psi that didn't work without suits, and some crew members ended up floating from their stations.

Vax grunted and kicked off the wall to return to Zical's side. ”Captain, there's a s.h.i.+p off the starboard bow. She's towing us with a tractor beam.”

Zical stared out the viewscreen, gazing at the tiny s.h.i.+p. What kind of technology did the alien s.h.i.+p employ to render them so helpless in an instant? Who was manning that s.h.i.+p and were they taking them? ”Since there's been no communication, we have to a.s.sume their intentions are hostile. Vax, find a way to break the tractor beam.”

”Aye, sir.”

108.

”Cyn, a.s.sign a team to rig a place for us to void our wastes.” He wrinkled his nose.

”Someplace not on the bridge. Put another team to work on the food materializers.”

Zical turned to Shannon. ”Since communications are down, Dr. Laduna's scientists must he frantic with worry. You and Cyn make your way to their deck and tell them we're working on the problems and that their cooperation is necessary. a.s.sign them some task to keep them busy. Then, Cyn, get on the engines. I want to know why they aren't working.”

”Aye, sir.”

The green-skinned engineer had taken to nudity the way a gilfish took to flight.

Zical recalled that the women from Scartar rarely wore clothing except for ceremonial purposes. However, she was not pleased with her orders. Cyn didn't like the Jarn scientist and avoided Dr. Laduna whenever possible; nevertheless, she didn't protest her a.s.signment.

”h.e.l.lo, the bridge.” A female voice echoed up the tube.

Zical leaned over to see Dora standing down, a deck, her face turned upward.

”Catch.” She tossed him a rope but her throw fell short.

While she tugged in the rope and rewound it for another try, he peered down at her and tried not to stare, pleased she was already working out a solution to one of their problems. ”Where did you get that?”

”One of Dr. Laduna's scientists, was in the cargo bay when our systems went down.