Shards of the Abyss Read online

engine and into the pistons. Without asking Arron, Jesse started completely disassembling the engine, taking off the head and pulling the cam shaft and pistons out and putting them in a mineral oil bath. Mr. Fix-it just sat back and watched Jesse, seemingly amused that this fresh out of boot camp trooper just dove into a complete overhaul.

  Jesse didn’t notice Arron’s absence for over an hour and was looking around for a grinder before realizing that he hadn’t heard his voice. When he started looking for Fitch, the elder man started laughing.

  “This really is your element isn’t it? I know that most mechanics would have figured the problem out and called a supply depot for a whole new replacement engine, but you just started breaking this one down to repair. I like that; you’ll be a great mechanic.”

  “Thanks, where I’m from we didn’t have the luxury of ordering new parts. We either fixed it with what was on hand or did without. My old boss taught me everything he knew about maintenance and repair work.”

  “Tell you what, we have all the time in the world, why don’t you go on up to the observatory. I think you’ve earned your keep today. But go get a shower first; Dr. Mojave won’t appreciate a stinky mechanic in his observatory.”

  Jesse nodded and did as he was told, the excitement building again as it had the previous night. Within an hour he had his tools up, gotten a quick meal and a shower. Arron let him take the truck from the previous night and Jesse drove as fast as he could to the observatory. The trip still took almost an hour. When he pulled up to the observatory, the door to the inside was open. The air was noticeably cooler and thinner up on the mountain. Jesse shut the engine off and let himself in.

  The inside of the observatory was much smaller than Jesse thought. Dr. Mojave had most of the lights off as well.

  “Dr. Mojave, are you in here?”

  “Up here”

  Jesse looked up and saw that a catwalk ringed the upper portion of the main observatory. Extending into the middle of the huge room was a hanging walkway that ended at a small platform where the doctor was reclining in a chair, with his eye planted on an eyepiece. Looking around, Jesse saw banks of computers, most with their monitors off.

  “If you want to see what I’m looking at, turn on that screen to your left.”

  Jesse turned and found the screen that Mojave was referring to. The whole time, the doctor kept his eye glued to the telescope, not looking down at Jesse at all. With a single button, the screen snapped to life and a very colorful display of gas appeared on the screen. Jesse was amazed at the display in front of him.

  “I’m jealous that you get to look at the stars every night.”

  “There are draw backs, absolutely no social life and I typically look at the same area night after night, but I pan the sky every night just to take it all in.”

  “What are you working on now?”

  “I am trying to determine if it is economically feasible to harvest gas from the nebula. Also, the military has me looking for hidden Confederate bases. Or any other bases for that matter.”

  Jesse turned quiet and watched the screen for over an hour before he noticed something move.

  “What is that?”

  “What is what?”

  “I saw something move on the screen.”

  “Let’s see, I can freeze the screen and extract an image from a few minutes ago and compare them.”

  Dr. Mojave did that and brought them up on the screen next to Jesse. A computer program quickly analyzed the two photos for differences and highlighted the movement that Jesse noticed. For the first time, the doctor looked down at Jesse.

  “You have spotted a ship. Well done, I’ve been staring through the scope all night and never saw it. I’m going to move the telescope and zoom in to get a clearer picture.”

  Within a couple minutes the observatory’s dome had shifted and Dr. Mojave refocused on the area in question.

  “It’s definitely a ship, a big one to have been seen from this far away. Maybe it’s a space station. I will relay this discovery to Commander Hammac, he might know of a New Order mission in the nebula. If not, you might have made a very important discovery Jesse; I will mention that you saw it first. It’s always a good idea to associate your name with important news.”

  “Thank you”

  “You should probably go back to your warehouse tonight, but come back tomorrow evening and we will see if we can gather more information on this mysterious ship.”

  “Definitely”

  Jesse let himself outside and hopped back into the work truck, excited to have made a discovery, no matter how small. The hour drive back to the base flew by as he pondered about what the ship could be. Jesse pulled into the maintenance shop, hopped out, and got ready for bed. The next thing he knew, it was daylight again.

  With a groan, Jesse got up from his bunk; Arron was nowhere to be seen. The old man liked to wake up early and get to work before the sun came up and people started calling in maintenance requests. Seeing as how he hadn’t been assigned any tasks yet, Jesse decided that he had time to go get some breakfast.

  After he was through eating, Jesse went back to the maintenance shop and still didn’t see Mr. Fix-it, so he decided that he could burn a few hours clearing dust and sand away from the ECUs around the base, at least he would be useful that way. When the sun was at its apex, Jesse had completed the task that he had set himself and made his way back to the shop.

  “Where have you been?”

  “I’ve been clearing sand away from the buildings. I didn’t see you this morning.”

  “All the team leaders were called in for a meeting. It seems that you had a fun night last night. That ship you saw is not a New Order ship, but Dr. Mojave has calculated that it is coming this way and as fast as it can on sub-light engines. You have been reassigned to him until we can find out what the unknown ship wants. The base has been placed on alert, the Falcon squadron is going to start keeping half the wing in the air at a time and the perimeter patrol has been doubled. Messages have been sent out to the corporate miners on this planet to watch out.”

  “Wow that is a lot of excitement.”

  “We don’t get many visitors out here and the NOMC doesn’t like us to request aid unless it is completely necessary. It’s an expense that they don’t like to pay. Even once we send for aid though, it will take at least two weeks before it arrives. If we are about to be attacked, that makes us an easy target. You’re going to help Dr. Mojave keep an eye on the ship and scan the nebula for other potential ships. You leave as soon as you can gather your stuff.”

  Since he had only gotten there two days earlier, his few belongings and clothes had not gotten scattered about, it was only a matter of seconds as he crammed everything back into his duffel bag.

  “I hope this is a short term reassignment, I have high hopes of you turning out to be a great mechanic.”

  “I will be back after all of this blows over.”

  Jesse got back into the truck that he had driven the night before and took off on the hour drive to the observatory. The sun was still high in the sky, but the satellites in orbit had been refocused to keep a watchful eye on the intruder. Once the sun set though, the powerful observatory could be used to track the ship and scan for its compatriots if it had any. Jesse hoped that it wasn’t a Confederate ship coming to destroy them, but Arron’s comments about them being an easy target made Jesse doubt the safety of the New Order base.

  The days seem to last forever on Aridia, the sun was still high when Jesse arrived at the observatory. This time, the door was closed when Jesse hopped out, to keep the heat of the desert sun away from the delicate instruments inside the observatory. Again, Jesse let himself inside.

  “Mr. Ownsman, is that you?”

  “Yes sir, Dr. Mojave. Mr. Fix-it told me to report to you until the crisis is over.”

  “Yes, Jesse, we have a lot of work ahead of us. According to my calculations, the ship will be here in abo
ut 40 hours, just before dawn.”

  “Do you know whose allegiance the ship belongs to?”

  “No, it is much too far away to see markings. I’m still amazed that you saw it at all. The computer didn’t see it, but it is looking for meteors closer to Aridia. Anyways, we will use the telescope tonight, but today we will parse through the satellite data. If we find anything, I will contact Commander Hammac with the news. You will sit over there and use that workstation.”

  Jesse put his duffel bag on the ground next to the desk that Dr. Mojave indicated and powered on the data slate that was connected to the observatory network. Quickly, the slate started showing real-time data from multiple satellites in orbit. The readings were consistent with each other. From what Jesse could understand, the still unknown ship had a constant power output and speed. Its speed and direction had not changed since the previous night. It was putting out no message on any frequency.

  “If that is an enemy ship, why is it so far out?”

  “When a ship comes out of hyperspace, it emits a very large pulse that is easy to pick up by sensors. By dropping out in the nebula and flying here on sub-light thrusters, they ensured that that signature was disrupted enough so that we didn’t pick it up. This has all the hallmarks of a sneak attack. They probably hoped to get the drop on us before we could send a message to the New Order Military Command identifying them. The Confederacy isn’t the only one resisting the New