Overtime

Chapter 4 - An Unexpected Passenger

A chirpy alarm went off on the Cookie as Majira and Wes looked on, in communications. Mack glanced over at the Tactical console. "It's that old gravimetric sphere over there, I think."

"Dana, what is the trouble?" Majira finally asked.

"There's a merchant shuttle, caught near the ruins of an old gravimetric sphere. I'd like to help them, if we can."

"There could be spatial anomalies, still. I know there are still a few in the area, from time to time. The area never really recovered, and it's been over a century since the spheres were active," Wes explained.

"That could be the cause of their problems," Dana opined. "They're venting plasma."

"I will be ready for casualties," Majira vowed. "How large a vessel is it?"

"They probably don't have more than a half a dozen people on board," Mack estimated.

"That ship could probably fit in the bay," Wesley suggested. "If you want me to help them fix it – or at least give them a chance to – then the bay is a lot better than towing them along and attempting repairs in a pressure suit, in an anomaly field."

"Okay, so we've got the semblance of a plan for afterwards. But what about now?" Mack asked.

"I can get us just about close enough for a tractor beam," Daniya offered. "But I don't recommend getting too close. Otherwise, there could be two ships caught by an anomaly."

"Got it," Mack replied. "Get as close as you safely can."

The green-skinned woman nodded. She flipped a few switches, and the Cookie started to turn.

"Tell them we're on our way, please," Mack requested."

"Unidentified vessel! Help is on its way. We will be using a tractor beam. This is the Cookie. Please stand by for assistance."

"This is ... Audrey ... by."

"Was that a good-bye?" asked Mack.

"It may have been the second half of the phrase, 'standing by'," Crita speculated as the Cookie moved into position.

"A little closer, a little more," Mack coaxed.

"We're reaching our safe limits," Daniya cautioned.

"Just a few hundred meters more," Mack murmured.

"Wes, can we get better shielding in the front?" the pilot asked.

"I'm on it!" he yelled. He could be seen, in the leftmost third of the view screen, tapping away furiously at a console. "Hang on, almost there. Okay," he said, after a few moments, "try it now."

Daniya turned the ship a little, so that the front starboard side was closest to the vessel that they all believed was a regular merchant shuttle. In the center of the view screen, on the side of the vessel, the name of the ship could be clearly seen. "I wonder who Audrey Niffenegger is, or more likely was," Mack muttered to herself. Then, more loudly, she added, "Deploying the tractor beam now."

The beam, which was reddish-orange in color, enveloped the Audrey and tugged a little until that smaller vessel was freed. It was towed along as Daniya steered the Cookie to a safer part of the old Delphic Expanse. Once the two ships were in a safe location, she said, "We should be able to bring it into the bay now."

"All right, let's do this," Mack commanded.

Crita looked over at her. "What if, despite the fact that we have just saved them, they turn out to be hostile?"