Out of Bight, Out of Mind

Chapter Eleven

“What the hell was that?” Aaron watched as Ford frowned at his console, which had turned into a blaze of red warnings as alarm Klaxons sounded.

“Abort jump!” Aaron barked.

Caph shook his head while his fingers flew over his console. “Too late. Jump engine’s engaged.” Both his and Ford’s hands raced across their consoles as they tried to figure out the problem.

“What the fuck just happened?” Aaron yelled over the alarm. “Did the jump engine short out?”

Ford’s face went white as he found the answer first. He turned to Aaron. “We lost a lifepod.”

“What?” Aaron pulled up displays on his command console. “What the fuck?”

Caph grimly confirmed it. “It jettisoned at two seconds pre-jump. The aft pod. The small, auxiliary one. It’s gone.”

“How?” Aaron stared at his console. “They can only be launched if someone’s inside.”

Ford looked at Caph, then Aaron. “Where’s Emi? And where’s Kayehalau? He was supposed to be up here for the jump. Said he wanted to watch.”

The men went silent. Aaron slammed his hand onto the com link button. “Em? Call the bridge immediately.”

The men sat, collectively holding their breath.

“Kayehalau, contact the bridge immediately!”

Nothing.

With a frantic edge to his voice, he tried again. “Em, this is an order!”

Silence.

Aaron shouted into the com link. “Doctor Hypatia, where the fuck are you? Quit screwing around and call the goddamn bridge! Kayehalau, call the bridge right fucking now!”

Ford pulled up the ship’s scanners and desperately tried to locate Emi.

Caph stood and walked over, reading the screen over Ford’s shoulder. “Shit,” he softly whispered.

Behind them Aaron still screamed into the com link, his voice cracking in desperation. “Em! Call the bridge right now!”

“She’s gone,” Caph whispered. “She was in the pod. It’s her last registered location. They were down there in cargo together, and now she’s gone.”

Aaron jumped from the command chair and bolted from the bridge, the other two men on his heels. They didn’t pass Kayehalau in the corridors as they made their way to aft cargo and stared at the closed lifepod port.

“We’ve got to stop the jump,” Aaron hoarsely whispered. “We’ve got to get back to her.”

Ford slowly shook his head. “We can’t. You know that.”

“We have to!”

“We’d destroy the jump engine and likely fry the whole ship’s power grid in the process. Aaron, you know that. It has to complete the jump cycle before we can do an immediate turnaround.”

He turned on Ford and screamed, “She’s out there alone!”

“Don’t you think I know that!” Ford yelled back, in Aaron’s face.

Caph stepped between them and pushed them apart. “Where’s that fucking Kayehalau at?” he softly said. “We’ve got to find him. He was down here with her when it happened. See if he knows what the fuck’s going on.”

Aaron got on the com link. “Kayehalau,” he barked, “this is Captain Lucio. Report immediately.”

Nothing.

“Find his ass,” Aaron growled at Ford. “I want it on a fucking silver platter.” Kayehalau’s words to him in the galley after Emi’s interrupted striptease came to mind. How he apologized for causing Emi’s discomfort, but how the tone of the words at the time had hit him wrong.

Maybe Emi had been right all along.

Cold dread flooded Aaron’s gut. “Find him. Now.”

Ford logged in to his console from the cargo bay override panel. “He’s in sick bay. Alone.”

The men raced from the cargo bay. Five minutes later, they charged through the door of sick bay.

They stopped at the sight of Kayehalau’s lifeless body stretched out on the bunk. A voice recorder lay on his motionless chest. A hypo with an empty bolus, and two additional empty boluses of potassium lay on the bunk next to him.

“Fucker killed himself,” Ford said as he picked up the hypo, which held a third, now-empty bottle of potassium. “Shit. He was alive when I tracked his chip.” He reached over and touched Kayehalau’s arm. “Warm. He just did it.” He looked at Aaron. “Want me to try to revive him?”

“If you do, I’ll fucking beat your ass.” Aaron reached out, grabbed the voice recorder, and hit play.

Kayehalau’s placid voice filed the sick bay. “Dear Captain Lucio. By the time you find this, you will have discovered Dr. Hypatia’s untimely departure. I am afraid this is my fault.” He went on to detail what he’d done, indicating notes he’d left on the sick bay computer for synthesizing the antidote to the drugs he’d given her in case they found her alive.

“She was right all along in her assessment of me, Captain. I did not count on her empathic abilities overwhelming the effects of the drugs I gave her. I never intended to do her harm. I certainly never intended for this to happen. Since I am going to die anyway, the only honorable thing I can do now is end my life. I hope you find her safely before irreparable damage is done. My most humble apologies for what I have caused. Please use this at any official inquiry as evidence against me. I fully admit my part in this, and my guilt. I alone caused this.”

Aaron felt the strength leave his legs. Fortunately, Caph caught him and eased him into a chair.

“She was right,” Aaron whispered. “Son of a bitch, she was right the whole time. She didn’t want him on board from the second she met him in Dobros’ office. She begged me to refuse the assignment.” He closed his eyes. “I didn’t listen to her.” He cradled his head in his hands. “Oh, no, I didn’t listen to her.”

Ford tapped into the sick bay computer. “Found them. Here’s his notes.” He transferred a copy to his personal handheld. “Motherfucker had it planned down to the second. He was going to transfer them to her, then remove them from her when we emerged from the jump. Fucker was going to use her as his incubator.” He slammed his fist against the desk. “Son of a bitch! She said she didn’t trust him. Why the hell didn’t I believe her? Why the fuck didn’t I listen to her?”

“Because he planned it,” Caph softly said. “He planned it that way so we wouldn’t. He wanted us to think she was going through space sickness. He didn’t want us to believe her.” He turned and walked out of sick bay. From the corridor, the other two men heard Caph’s long, anguished wail and a loud crash as he kicked or punched something.