A Starship Called Starsong

Chapter 5

Cynthia followed me from area to area, but I was just scanning things and closing tickets. All of the systems seemed to be working just fine. We never did pass by the medical team, although Mack had called to tell me that Steve was in the medical bay with a concussion.

Cynthia eventually groaned. "These shoes are so not cut out for walking all over the ship. How are you even still standing?!"

I glanced back at the exhausted agricultural assistant. "All we are doing is walking. We aren't even doing any actual work. I guess I am just used to being on the move all day."

She grumbled incoherently behind me as we entered the waste disposal area. I scanned a few key pieces of equipment, but other than a few part replacement recommendations for the future, everything was fine.

I checked the work tickets, but that was the last of the big ones. Mack must have also been closing tickets since several had closed without me touching them. The remaining ones were tiny things that could certainly wait a day or so.

I sighed as I lowered my Analyzer. "I think that is it for today. It is almost time for supper anyway."

Cynthia perked up in relief. "Thank goodness! I may make it through this day after all!"

I hadn't been this tired in a long time, and I was also glad that I could probably count my shift as over. I tapped my communication device. "Rachel to Mack."

Beep. "Hi Mack, all the big tickets are closed. Is there anything I may have missed?"

"The big stuff is taken care of. See you tomorrow morning."

He had never been much for words. Although considering that I had closed most of the tickets, I knew he hadn't worked that hard since the system status page said everything was working. Had they still been down, yes, he would have actually put in effort, but when they were working, he wasn't that ambitious.

I turned to Cynthia. "Let's go grab some supper. I want a long soak in the hot tub after we eat, and I think it will be an early night."

Cynthia nodded in full agreement as we headed down the corridor.

*      *      *

It was days like this I was glad my hair was short since it dried pretty fast and didn't take much effort to wash or brush. I closed the door to my room and laid down on my bed with a faint groan. This day had been far too long...

The small portable computer hanging on my wall dinged with a chiming noise. I got back up to my feet with a sigh as I hit the connection button on the incoming video call. I sat back down on the bed.

My brother's smile dropped as he looked at me in shock. "What happened to you?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just say that it has been a long day..."

"Uh huh. Care to explain that one?"

I sighed tiredly. My brother wasn't about to let go of this subject until he was sure that someone in the crew hadn't beaten me. "We upgraded the ship's computer, and it shut off most of the life support systems before one of the techs managed to reverse the upgrade. I had a brush with low oxygen as well as having to help check that the systems were truly up once the upgrade was reversed."

He looked surprised. "Your ship got that upgrade? But you aren't supposed to be in port for two weeks."

"Yeah. We stopped the engines and thrusters since we had to do some other important upgrades at the same time."

His brown eyes were almost the same color as mine, and his eyes became unfocused as he thought, "Many spaceships also got that upgrade with no problems. Although, for some reason, a few ships went rogue - and they aren't sure why. The crews ended up evacuating before their ships left port. The few ships they are tracking are just meandering through space with no crew on board."