Stars

Part II (continued) - Stasis and the Waste

Twenty five years since the first attempt at a manned S-Jump and still the researchers were stumped. Every time they sent a pre-programmed ship out, the crew came back in a coma-like state which could not be medically explained. The times they used piloted ships, they simply didn't return at all. Unmanned probes were being used quite often now, but they couldn't be remotely operated. The distances they were traveling meant it was necessary to program the ship's navi-com to perform all of the experiments and return on a pre-ordained schedule. No-one could predict all of the phenomena that might be encountered, so no-one could know what had been missed. Perhaps stasis would be the answer.

Sara Daley's Grandfather had been one of those casualties. For as long as she could remember, she had been obsessed with the problems associated with the S-Jump. Throughout her high school years she had spent as much time as possible studying the subject. The vast amounts of time consumed by her passion, while creating an expansive knowledge, left her with few, if any, real friends. At 22 she preferred the company of her ferrets to that of her colleagues. Weasel, as she had become known around the lab, quite often came to work with Ra'keen draped protectively around her neck, or poking his nose surreptitiously out the pocket of her blazer.

"Hey, Weasel. Check out Moses." She was running late this morning. The rest of the lab personnel had been working nearly an hour now. "No vitals, room temp, no alpha or beta activity. Looks like we finally reached virtual death." Mark Edmondson was the only one of the team that used that term. He had, in fact, coined the phrase. Moses, the virtually-late subject of their most recent experiment lay motionless in the transparent chamber at the south end of the lab.

"No vitals or low vitals, Eddy?" Sara was the only one who used that term.

"No vitals, boss. Look, see for yourself." Sara did just that. She made her way to the test chamber and peered in at the small rodent lying motionless, behind the glass. Ra'keen gazed intently at the small creature a moment, then made his way nimbly up her arm, around her shoulder and settled on top of her head, claws searching diligently for a purchase.

"Cut it out Keeny!" The errant little beast sprang off toward a shelf above the monitoring station as his mistress made a belated grab for him. "Damn! Drew blood, again."

"You know he's uncontrollable when we've got food in the lab, Weasel. Why'd you bring him anyway?" Jamie never liked to see Ra'keen in the lab. Damned unsanitary things, animals. "Why can't you just leave him home, you know, like normal people?"

"You just don't like him. You're scared of him." Sara was right, although Jamie would never admit it to her. She was afraid of most furry things. Once Ra' bushed up against her arm (He knows I can't stand him!) and she nearly passed out trying not to scream. It was several days before she got a normal night's sleep after that.

"I wish you'd stop calling him food. His name is Moses."

"And why do have to name them all? Isn't it enough the way they stink up the lab? They have to have names too?" Jamie seemed rather wired today. Sara might have wondered about that, but right now she seemed to have a dead cavi on her hands. Not to mention blood on her forehead.

"When did you notice this, Eddy?"

"Notice? I didn't notice it Weasel, I logged it."

"OK. What time did you log it?" Mark picked up the log book and opened it with a flourish. Scanning the page with a critical eye he found the figure he was looking for.

"8:32 AM, Sir." Since it was now 9:05 AM, it seemed obvious that the log book had been purely for show.
Sara examined the log and then checked the monitors. No changes were evident since the readings had been logged.