On the bridge of the Peony, there was no sign of the marine, and no sign of the mess they had to clean up. Mason ran one hand through his hair in frustration, the other kept in contact with his sidearm.
"It's not like Patcher to leave her post."
"Where would she go, even if she did?" said Brick. She was a husky woman, taller and more muscular than all of them. Charlotte hadn't decided if she was a genetic mutant or a cyborg yet.
"Blip," Mason barked to his com, "Is Patcher down there?"
"How would she get to the other end of the ship without passing us?" Brick was pacing the room now. There was only one corridor that ran the length of the ship, and they had just left Blip on the other end of it.
"Blip? Blip!" Commander Mason and Brick looked at each other with panic when the hacker didn't respond.
"Minter, where are you on the repairs, I need to see what's going on in this ship."
"Shouldn't we call for backup?" Charlotte sank into the closest chair, which happened to be the captain's seat.
"Who are we going to call? The marines? We're it, wizard. Answer the question."
"I've got the power mostly up. The rest I need to do from here anyway, so let's stay here. We won't get the AI back up, so this ship is a corpse: We're all manual."
"Good enough. Brick and I are going back to the computer room, you stay here and..."
"No way! We are not splitting up. Every one who's been left alone has disappeared!"
The Commander closed his eyes and counted to five in his head. "Minter... Charlotte, I need you to calm down. This is just a communications problem. One I need your help fixing here. Blip is probably just distracted, like he always is. Got his music up too loud. I just need to get a status on his repairs."
Charlotte squinted her eyes at the commander. She couldn't tell if he was being straight with her or if he was just trying to control her panic during an emergency. Either way, the panic wasn't helping.
"Alright. But send Brick. Don't leave me alone up here. I'm going to need a hand with this anyway."
"I've got this, Commander, you stay," Brick was already heading for the door, but Charlotte couldn't help but notice that the big woman had almost unconsciously popped the safety off her gun while doing it.
"Fine. You go Brick. Keep the channel open. Minter, let's get this deuce online."
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Hard Vacuum: Short Episodes In The Future
Science FictionSpace, spies, politics, and an ancient horror. A warrior king has just conquered the solar system of Gorm. Now he just has to hold onto it while the displaced actors of the previous regime scheme against him and each other for power. A computer ha...
