Avalon

CHAPTER 12

BUT AVALON WASN’T GOING ANYWHERE.

Jeth had known it even before Flynn crawled beneath the nav station to take stock of the damage. He stood by, watching Flynn’s feet twitch back and forth as he worked and bracing for the worst. Only a few short minutes had passed since the holes appeared, but each passing second felt like hours.

“Crap oh crap oh crap,” said Flynn as he crawled out from underneath the nav station. “We are so screwed. I mean, screwed-screwed. Like, get-into-the-lifeboats-’cause-this-ship-is-going-down-screwed.”

“Flynn,” Jeth hissed, crossing his arms. “This isn’t the high seas. This is the middle of space. We don’t have any lifeboats, and we don’t need panic. We need solutions.”

Flynn stood up, glaring. “I’m not a miracle worker, Jeth. We’re light-years from the closest outpost or relay, and without a nav computer we can’t calculate a safe path for the metadrive to jump us. Which means we’re stuck here. Forever.”

Jeth scowled, trying to ignore all the worried faces watching him right now. The bridge was entirely too crowded with everybody congregated there. “Thanks for enlightening us with the obvious. I’m sure we all feel better now.”

“Well, good,” Flynn shouted. “Glad I could help!”

“Why’s that boy yelling?” Cora said.

Sierra shushed her. The two of them had been the last to arrive, and they now stood nearest the door, next to Lizzie, who was still clinging to Viggo. She didn’t look like she was going to be able to help, and, given Flynn’s attitude, it didn’t seem likely a solution was going to come from him either. There might not be a solution.

No, there had to be.

“What about the shuttles?” said Shady. “Can we use the nav systems on them instead?”

Flynn shook his head. “They’re network systems. Won’t function if the main one’s down.”

“Oh,” Shady said, rubbing his chin.

“Tell me something useful,” said Jeth.

Flynn took a deep breath. “The good news is that whatever made these holes missed the memory banks, so the Explorer program your mom designed is still intact. But I can’t repair the main unit without parts. The stuff’s not broken, it’s gone.” He waved at the holes, a desperate look on his face. “How’d it even happen?”

“I’ll tell you how,” said Shady. “It’s the Belgrave. This place really is haunted. Or cursed or something.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Lizzie.

“I’m not,” said Shady. “You didn’t see what happened to the Donerail. It’s—”

“Shut up, Shady,” said Jeth. “That doesn’t matter right now.”

“But it does,” said Sierra, stepping further in. “If you want to keep this ship intact, we need to find a way out of here.”

Flynn grunted. “Now who’s enlightening us with the obvious?”

Jeth grimaced—Flynn had a point. Still, Sierra had been dealing with this for some time. Maybe she or Vince knew something helpful. “I take it you have an idea?”

“Yes. We should be able to find replacement parts on the Donerail.” Sensing a protest, she addressed Shady. “Last we checked the nav unit itself isn’t damaged, just some of the external wiring into it.”

Flynn took another deep breath. “Well, okay then. Let’s 0 do that.”

“You think you can?” said Jeth. Please say yes, please say yes.

Flynn nodded, looking considerably calmer.

Jeth exhaled as some of the pressure that had been squeezing his chest eased.

That was until Lizzie said, “But what if it happens again before we’re done?”

A vision of Avalon riddled with holes flashed in Jeth’s brain, making his stomach clench. The feeling only worsened when he pictured what those holes would do to the crew if they were in the wrong place the next time it happened.

“If it goes down like it did on the Donerail,” said Vince, “then we’ve got a little time. It started off slow at first, just a couple here and there, and then it got worse at increasing intervals.”

“How long?”

“A day. Maybe.”

“Oh that’s just great,” said Flynn. “There’s no way I can get this done that fast. The recalibration will take most of a day all by itself.”

Jeth closed his eyes. The pressure around his chest strengthened again, cutting off his ability to breathe. Avalon had been wounded. She was in danger. All of them were.

Lizzie stepped forward, biting her lip. “We’ve been in the Belgrave almost a week and nothing like this happened until we got to this area of space. So if we jump out of this area, we should be safe again, right?”

Jeth looked at her, hoping that some brilliant idea was sprouting in her genius brain.

“Well, obviously,” said Flynn, sneering. “That’s why we’ve got to fix the nav computer.”

Making a mental note to strangle Flynn later, Jeth kept his gaze locked on Lizzie. “What are you thinking?”

“If we can hardwire the portable maintenance computer into the metadrive control unit, I might be able jump us manually.”

“That’s insane,” said Celeste. “Without navigation we’ll be jumping blind. We could end up too close to a star or crash into the Belgrave’s energy field or a hundred other things.”

“That’s just it,” said Lizzie. “It won’t be a blind jump. I think I can plot one.”

“How?” said Jeth.

Lizzie began to fidget, twirling a finger through her hair and shifting her weight from foot to foot. “I’ve got some detailed charts on the Belgrave. They’re not complete, but I think it’s enough that I can calculate a safe course.”

“Where did you get these charts?” said Milton, voicing the question before Jeth could.

Lizzie glanced at him. “On a data crystal I found a couple of days ago.” She shifted her gaze back to Jeth. “That’s what I was going to tell you about this morning. I think it was Mom’s. At least it’s got a lot of her video journals and stuff on it, too. She must’ve hidden it in this little compartment inside the air vent in my room. Viggo got up there the first night we were in the Belgrave, and when I went to get him out, I found it.”

A weakness struck Jeth’s knees, and he wished he could sit down. Lizzie had found a lost relic from their parents’ past? She might as well have found a ghost. The ITA had confiscated all their personal items when they’d been arrested “Why didn’t you tell me when you found it?”

She shook her head.

After a moment Jeth nodded, intuitively understanding that she hadn’t wanted to tell him. She wanted to explore the data alone for the same reasons he would’ve wanted to—the desire to experience this hidden piece of their parents’ forgotten lives without having to share. No wonder she’d been spending those long hours in her cabin.

But what else was on the crystal? Why had their mother hidden it? With an effort, Jeth forced the questions away. There would be time for that later—he prayed.

He turned his attention to Sierra and Vince, once again hoping their experience on the Donerail might help. “Our mother was an ITA surveyor in the Belgrave. If she put these charts on this crystal, they’re accurate. What do you think? Should we risk staying here or should we jump?”

Vince answered at once with no hesitation. “If you can’t repair the nav by tonight, then jump.”

“And I can help her set the coordinates,” added Sierra. “I’m familiar with meta technology.”

Jeth eyebrows shot up. Someone familiar with metatech? A teenager no less? But he didn’t question her. No time to waste. Plus, he trusted Lizzie not to let anyone else trip her up. “All right. Let’s do it then.”

“Okay,” said Lizzie. “I’ll go get the data crystal. Be right back.” She turned and left the bridge.

“And I guess I’ll get the maintenance computer and start hooking it up to the metadrive system,” Flynn said. He cast Sierra a somewhat dubious glance. “Do you want to help me?”

“Yes.” She looked down at Cora. “I need you to stay with Vince for now. Okay?”

“Okay,” Cora said.

“I still need to examine her,” Milton said. “Just a routine check to make sure everything’s all right. Besides, it’ll give us something to do while we stay out of the way.”

Sierra looked ready to argue, but Vince said, “She’ll be fine. I’ll make sure.” Vince turned his gaze to Jeth. “But somebody should check the rest of the ship. It’s possible there’s more damage than what’s up here.”

Jeth swallowed. “Yeah, okay. Celeste and Shady and I can do that.”

Vince nodded as he scooped up Cora. Then the two of them followed Milton off the bridge.

Sierra took a step toward Jeth, drawing his attention. “You might want to use one of the shuttles to check Avalon’s exterior, just in case. There could be damage to some of the shielding that’s too minor to trigger any warnings. It couldn’t hurt to check.”

Jeth exhaled then turned to Celeste and Shady. “I’ll do a sweep of the ship with Flash and then check the engineering deck. Shady, you take the cargo deck, and Celeste, you check the commons deck and Sparky. Once you two finish, tackle the passenger deck together. All right?”

“All right,” Celeste said, then marched out the door with Shady following after her.

Jeth trailed behind them, afraid of what he might find. Once outside the bridge, he took the stairs up to the engineering deck. He scanned the machinery and the various equipment racks as he walked down the long bay toward the shuttle entrance. Nothing looked amiss, but he would have to check more closely once he finished the sweep.

He stopped beneath the ladder to the shuttle and pulled it down. Once inside Flash, he scanned around, relieved to see no obvious damage here either. And when he powered the shuttle on, everything booted up correctly except for the nav system display, which showed a “no signal” error across the screen. But that was okay. He didn’t need the nav for this.

Jeth piloted Flash out of the dock and began his scan. He did four sweeps, just to be sure, but he found nothing amiss, not so much as a new scratch. He knew his ship well enough to be certain.

Relieved, Jeth docked the shuttle and stepped back down the ladder onto the engineering deck. He checked the time, pleased to find that he’d burned up forty minutes already. He was tempted to go down to the bridge to check on Lizzie’s progress, but he resisted. He doubted she could be done yet, and he still needed to check all the equipment and machinery up here.

A loud shriek from behind him made him jump. He spun around, certain the holes were about to start again. He spotted Cora dashing up the stairs toward him, hot on Viggo’s tail. The cat’s paws, ill-adapted for the hard floor of the engineering deck, slipped out from underneath him, forcing him to take an extra four strides for every step forward, but still he managed to escape her, disappearing underneath one of the racks.

Jeth sighed. And this is why cats have no business on starships.

Cora slid to a stop, and the crestfallen look that came over her face was so miserable Jeth almost laughed.

“Cora,” Vince called as he marched up the stairs. “You can’t just go running around by yourself.”

“It’s all right,” Jeth said. He squatted before the little girl, taking pity on her. “If you want to catch a cat, you’ve got to use the right tools.”

Cora looked up at him with her big dark eyes. “What kind of tools?”

“This kind.” Jeth stood and walked to the maintenance cabinet near the stairs where he knew Flynn kept old pieces of wiring that he thought might be usable for some future repair job. Jeth selected a suitable-sized piece and walked back to Cora. Kneeling, he slid one end of the wire underneath the rack where the cat had disappeared and started to wiggle it back and forth. In seconds, a furry yellow paw poked out, trying to snag the wire.

Jeth worked it back and forth, slowly coaxing the cat out while a delighted Cora watched.

The moment Viggo was fully out from underneath the rack, Cora grabbed him and hauled him into her arms. The cat struggled, but the little girl was too much for him, and after a moment he gave into the inevitable and let Cora stroke his head and neck.

“Have you found anything?” Vince asked, now that Cora was distracted.

Jeth shook his head. “Nothing on the exterior, but I just got started in here.”

“I’ll help you look.” Vince headed for the starboard side and began examining the first equipment rack.

Jeth took the rack opposite and did the same. They searched all the way down while Cora played with the cat. He was relieved when they reached the end of the deck without finding any holes. Only the metadrive compartment remained, but from the outside it looked as undisturbed as everything else.

Just as Jeth was about to pull open the door, a burst of white noise erupted around them. The screech was louder than any that had happened before, and it made Jeth’s hair stand on end. Behind him, Cora cried out. He turned to see Viggo racing down the stairs away from them and Cora clutching her arm. At the sight of blood seeping out from the ragged scratch across the top of her hand, she started to cry.

Vince stooped and picked her up. “Shush. It’s okay, Cora,” he murmured stroking her hair. He was so big, she seemed to disappear inside his arms. “It was just an accident. Doctor Milton will make it all better in a moment.”

“Are you sure?” Cora said between sobs.

“I’m sure.” Vince glanced at Jeth.

He waved them on. “I’ll finish up here.”

“Okay,” Vince said, and he carried Cora toward the stairs.

Crack.

Jeth instinctively ducked at the sound that echoed as loudly as cannon fire. At the head of the steps, Vince did the same, wrapping his body completely around Cora as a human shield. Bright light filled the room, and Jeth shut his eyes only to hear the loud shriek of metal splitting.

He opened them again. A smattering of fist-sized holes marked the wall near the stairs, exposing the ship’s insides. Vince and Cora stood less than a meter away from them.

Jeth raced over. “Are you two all right?”

Vince nodded as he struggled to calm Cora.

Jeth turned toward the holes, examining them with his heart in his throat. They weren’t deep, and the area behind them appeared mostly empty. He didn’t think anything critical had been damaged. At least not here.

“Take her to sick bay,” Jeth said to Vince, and then he raced down the stairs toward the bridge, terrified at what he might find when he got there.