Xenos

iii. That Which is Hidden: July 15, 2126

They rushed back to the bridge. Cin hoped that most of the crew would be in the recreation room or their rooms. She didn't have the energy to dodge questions. When they reached the bridge, only a few remained, finishing their dinner. Zo was the only one who looked up, because she was the only one who knew something was wrong. Her eyes followed them across the floor as they went to Galen in the pilot's cockpit. He looked at them expectantly, his expression grim. It was the face of someone who had to hold it together when everything was falling apart.

"Zo told you?" Cin asked breathlessly, going on before he had time to answer. "We have a problem."

Drake shut the door to the main bridge before turning to face the two of them again.

"How bad is it?" Galen asked as he rose from his chair, a line of concern cutting across his forehead.

"The wire for contacting the base has been cut."

Drake let his words sink in and Cin again felt the spasm of fear that she'd felt upon discovering the cut wire.

Galen glanced at the door where the rest of the crew went about their responsibilities, unaware of the growing problem. "How?" he asked in a low voice, his eyes jumping from Cin to Drake.

"We don't think it was an accident," Cin began.

Galen's face hardened, frozen on an expression of resignation. No Captain wanted a saboteur on their ship. He moved past them into the main part of the bridge, ordering everyone but Zo to leave the room. Miles and Jackson looked up in surprise before hurriedly finishing their meals. Zo locked the door when they left the bridge, the outline of the door turning red to indicate it was no longer accessible. The four of them sat down at the table.

"Tell her," he ordered. Cin obliged.

Turning to Zo, she told her about the missing cable and how they discovered it had been cut.

Zo covered her mouth, shocked. "What does this mean?"

"It means we have a bigger problem than Gray," Galen said. "According to Cin and Drake, this wasn't an accident."

"Who would have done this?" Zo stood up and started pacing, twisting a dreadlock between her fingers.

"That's what we need to figure out," Cin answered. "This was a deliberate attempt to prevent us from communicating with the base."

"Why would someone do that?"

There were several possibilities and all of them were equally bad. Either someone had something to hide that they didn't want the ESC to know or they wanted to cut the crew off. Cin wasn't sure which one was more terrifying.

"Did Gray—" Zo began to say, but Cin shook her head.

"The static was happening before the attack, but this happened after."

Zo turned to Galen. "What are we going to do?"

Galen deferred to Cin and Drake. "You two know the most about the means of communication on this ship. What is our plan?"

"We can check the security video for the storage bay," Drake said slowly. "But I'm not sure that surveillance extends as far as the panel."

"But there's not much else down there," Cin added. "So if anyone goes down the hallway it's reasonable to assume that they had something to do with the problem."

"Okay, let's check that in a moment," Galen told them. "Can you repair the link?"

Cin shook her head grimly. "The wire was cut close to the ship. Whoever did it made sure that they took as much of it as they could. There's not enough of it to make a new connection for the terminal."