Deck 53. Section L. Johan’s workshop.

Thief stood in the middle of the workshop as Johan and the others fussed over her. She wore her usual grubby grey jumpsuit, but Johan had looped a belt around her waist. At the back of the belt he attached a battery pack. A wire ran inside her shirt to an earpiece that felt strange and uncomfortable, jammed in her ear. Another wire ran to a small device clipped onto her collar.

“It’s a two-way radio,” he explained, “It lets us talk to each other. We haven’t used these in years because a previous council got it into their heads that radios might attract the demons, or whatever they are. But these are desperate times.”

“So I talk, and you can hear me?” Thief asked.

“Yes. And you’ll hear me too, in your ear. I’ll show you.” Johan picked up a similar device from the workbench and blew into it.

“Ouch! Too loud!” Thief clapped her hand to her ear.

“Sorry, I’ll adjust it.”

She wriggled against the wires running inside her clothes.

“I don’t see the point, though. I’m supposed to be quiet in there. And what use will it be if one of them catches me? You’ll be able to hear me being eaten? Great.”

Johan grimaced. Emily put a hand over her mouth to cut off a yelp. She had argued against Thief going anywhere. Same as Hamish, but they had little say.

“You can describe to me what you’re seeing. We’ll identify the right part to bring back, instead of guessing.”

“I suppose so.”

“I’ve recharged your rad counter.” Johan said, strapping it back onto her wrist. “If that thing hits fifty you get out of there, okay?”

“Sure, boss.”

“Okay. You’re good to go.” And Johan had to take his glasses off and pinch his nose. His way of holding back tears.

“Hey Johan. I’ll be fine.” Thief said, patting his shoulder. “I’ve done it before, remember.”

“Yes, but one of them has Thomas. We don’t know if it’s still around, I…”

“If it is, I’ll give it a swift kick in the balls, like I did to Sam!”

This made Hamish laugh, at least. But elicited only smiles from Johan and Emily.

Thief clambered up the storage compartments and shelves to the grill in the workshop ceiling. She looked at those below. They’d drawn together in a loose pack, looking up at their friend. She felt less brave now and wanted to climb back down and be with them. But she had a job to do. Nobody else could do it like her, and if she didn’t, pretty soon she’d have no friends left at all. She thought of her mother in the hospital, glad that she wasn’t here to demand an end to this crazy mission. But it wasn’t crazy. Not if this missing piece Johan needed meant they could talk to the ship’s computer and get help.

“Try to check on Mamma, Johan?”

“Of course.”

“And take care of Hamish, Em.”

“You know I will. But please, be quick!”

The familiarity of the ventilation shafts did nothing to assuage Thief’s fear. Every shuffle forward and twist around a corner put her nearer to “them”. More cautious this time, it was two hours before she felt the temperature increasing and knew she was close to the Engineering section. She forced herself to pause at every junction in the pipes, to wait and listen. The rad counter read forty-one. No problem there, at least.

Above the storage room, there was no way of knowing if something waited in the darkness below. The same something that grabbed Thomas. For a moment Thief convinced herself she was heading into a trap. Panic froze her, and she had to shake her head to overcome it. She couldn’t return now, empty-handed.

She dropped to the floor.

After holding her breath as long as her lungs could stand, Thief exhaled and trembled with relief.

“Johan,” she whispered into her collar. “I’m here.”

“Okay, well done, short stuff!” Johan whispered back.

From the storage capsules, she pulled out any objects she didn’t recognise by touch and made a pile in a corner of the room. The hiss of air when the vacuumed capsules opened kept her on edge.

She sat down cross-legged, like Hamish, in front of the pile and burned matches to light up and describe each piece to Johan. He dismissed a dozen parts before his voice rose in excitement.

“Say that again!” he urged over the earpiece

“Shush, that’s too loud.” Thief whispered.

“Sorry, describe that last piece to me again.”

“Okay, okay… its oblong, maybe the same size as your air samplers. It’s got a little round socket at one end, like something plugs into it. The other end has a rectangular socket with lots of little pins in it. Two rows of them. There’s something written on the side. Hang on, I need to light another match.” A few seconds later, she continued. “I think it says ‘Optec’ but that’s not a word? Oh, and ‘photo died’? No, wait, ‘photo diode’?”

“Thief, that’s it! That’s what we need, I’m sure of it.” Johan tried to keep his voice down. “Come home, quick!”

“Gladly!”

She abandoned the pile of parts and burned matches, climbed up the open storage capsules and into the duct with her treasure.

Seconds later, her body lifted in the air and a thunderous roaring noise filled the shaft. She hit the ceiling inches above before smashing back down, face first.

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***

At the same time, miles away, Bianca flew upwards in her shower, cracking her head on the nozzle before slamming to the tiles like a dropped bar of soap. Water sprayed at odd angles before resuming its usual downward trajectory.

“Mary, what the hell was that?”

“The grav plates malfunctioned. It happens every couple of hundred years. I think you were asleep the last time.”

“What are grav plates?” Bianca rubbed her sore head as she rinsed off the soap.

“The clue is in the name.” Mary didn’t appear to have any sympathy. “They are antimatter gravitational plates running along the base of the ship. They generate gravity. Or at least, an approximation of gravity. Would you like a detailed explanation of how they work? The technology is the most advanced onboard.”

“No thanks. But please make sure they don’t malfunction again.”

“I can’t prevent that from happening. The designers could not compensate for the build-up of a counter gravitational wave. But it takes almost two hundred years to form, whereupon it counterbalances the primary wave and cancels out the gravitational effect. I simply reset the power current and restore normal gravity.”

“Yes, and I ‘simply’ bang my head in the shower. Humans can’t do anything right, can they? This place is a disaster zone. Another reactor will melt down next, I imagine.”

“That possibility cannot be ruled out. My sensors show the remaining three reactors are stable and have been since the meltdown of reactor two. It’s worth noting, however, that I wasn’t able to predict the first meltdown. Therefore, logic suggests I may not predict another.”

“How very humble of you.”

“Neither pride nor humility serve much purpose in an AI.”

“Speaking of things that don’t serve much purpose, where is my brother? Did he bang anything when we lost gravity? I hope so.”

“Sebastian is nursing a hip injury on the bridge and suggesting my maternal parent engaged in sexual intercourse for financial renumeration.”

“And my lovely young man in the blood bank?”

“He fared the best, being strung up meant he avoided any major collision, although when gravity returned the manacle around his ankles may have caused some soft tissue damage.”

***

The colony at the rear did not fare so well. With so much loose equipment piled into the hospital, several patients and nurses suffered injuries varying from concussion to broken limbs. Two critical patients did not recover from their ventilators being ripped away.

Hamish and Emily, excited to hear Thief was on her way back, had been jumping around. Their last jump sent them rocketing up to the workshop ceiling. Hamish came down hard on Emily, winding her, but both avoided broken bones. Johan had been seated at his workbench, preparing his interface for the new part. His knees struck the underside of the bench and held him in place.

“Hang onto something.” Johan shouted. “It may happen again!”

“Can’t… breath” Emily clutched her chest. Hamish patted her on the back.

“Thief, are you okay?” Johan whispered into his microphone.

“I’ve got a bloody nose, but I’m okay.” Thief’s meek voice came back. “Did I cause that? Some kind of alarm or trap?”

“I don’t think so. More like the gravity system failed. We know the ship must generate it somehow. Anyway, come back fast please, and be ready for it to happen again.”

Time slowed as everyone waited. Until they heard a shuffling noise from above.

“She made it!” Hamish called out.

“Here, Em.” Thief’s face appeared in the opening and she threw the part to Emily.

“Careful…. ahh!” Johan winced until he saw Emily’s deft catch.

“From playing ball on Main Street”, she said with pride, handing over the part. “Thief, look at you, that must have hurt.” Emily helped her friend. Thief had dried blood smudged all over her face.

“Yes, you could say that.” She winced.

Johan was already working on his device, so the remaining trio exited the workshop, closing the door behind them.

“Let’s get you home and washed up.” Emily said.

“Yes, Mamma! Oh, did you check on Mamma? Is she okay? And your Dad? And Hamish’s…”

“Relax. Everyone is fine. Or at least they were before the gravity thing.”

“Oh, thank god.”

***

Main street was a mess. Foodstuffs and other supplies lay scattered. But there wasn’t anyone around to begin the clean-up.

Back at Emily’s house, Thief sponged down and cleaned her face.

“I think my nose has gone crooked.” She said, looking in the mirror.

“It’s an improvement.” Emily called from the other room as she found them all nutro packs. It felt good to be together again. Good enough for joking around.

“Oh haha.”

They sat and ate, but Thief couldn’t relax. She kept thinking of poor Thomas.

“I so hope Johan’s thing works and he can talk to the computer.” she said. “We might find out where Thomas is. He could still be alive, Em.”

“Possibly.” Emily doubted it but didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t want to scare Hamish by suggesting any other outcome.

With his tummy full, Hamish fell asleep on the bottom bunk.

“How can he fall asleep like that, with everything going on?” Thief asked.

“He’s a kid, he needs his sleep, I guess. But yeah, I wish I could do that.”

The two girls sat on the fold down seats and chatted, trying to make sense of recent events. Until Thief couldn’t bear it anymore and started pacing around the small living quarters.

“I’m going crazy in here.”

An adult female voice made them both jump. It came from the far corner of Emily’s quarters, somewhere high up.

“Johan requests your presence back in his workshop. The interface is complete.”

“What the f…” Emily began, before remembering her Mother frowned on swearing.

“He’s done it!” Thief shouted. “That must be the computer!”

The two raced out the door, leaving Hamish to sleep. He’d know where to find them if he woke up.

They ran into the workshop but hushed their congratulations. Johan was in an earnest conversation. He beckoned them to sit down. A length of blue fibreoptic cable extended from the wall to a mess of components in front of him that included the two parts Thief had stolen.

“So it was a failure of the cooling system in reactor two, that caused the meltdown?”

“More or less,” The same female voice from Emily’s quarters answered. “Cesium-137 was exposed, and the temperature reached uncontrollable levels in a matter of seconds. I lost all sensor feedback between decks 21 and 37. I initiated emergency protocols, closing bulkhead doors to isolate that part of the ship.”

“Fascinating,” Johan rubbed his chin, “That you could react so fast and contain the radiation.”

“Not all the radiation is contained. As you know, there are dangerous levels around the mid sections. Bulkhead door mechanisms malfunctioned soon after, likely melting in the heatwave, rendering them inoperable.

Thief was shaking her knee with impatience, wobbling the furniture. Emily put a hand on it to stop her. Thief tugged at Johan’s sleeve. “Never mind old history, can she help us? And does she know if Thomas is alive? And…”

“Hello Thief.” The computer interrupted her.

“Err… Hello….” She didn’t bother asking how it knew her name.

“If you wish, you may call me Mary. That might make communication easier.”

Not wanting to be left out, Emily spoke up. It felt strange, talking to the pile of junk in front of them.

“I’m Emily. But if you’re nice, you can call me Em.”

“Hello Emily. ‘Nice’ is subjective, and is for you to determine, if you need to. I’d suggest I’m neither nice, nor its antithesis. Also, you may speak in any direction. I have active, wide array receivers in most compartments. The device Johan has constructed allowed me to re-establish the network in your region.”

“Tell us about the demons, and Thomas!” Thief looked as if she’d burst.

“What you refer to as demons, are very much living, physical beings. Demonic, is one interpretation of their behaviour, but it’s not a useful scientific term. Demons do not exist.”

“So what are they?”

“They’re vampires.”

“Oh, well, that’s great. We’re so lucky they’re not demons.” Thief jumped up and paced.

“And Thomas?” Johan asked

“Thomas is alive and well, although suffering a mild case of anaemia. The vampires do not exercise enough restraint when consuming their victim’s blood.”

“Oh, no! Poor Thomas.” Thief yelped. “We have to get him out of there. You’re going to help us right, Mary?”

“We should include your other community members in this discussion. Your senior council member’s at least.”

“And what does that mean?” Thief asked with suspicion, “You’re not on our side after all?”

“We will discuss. Shall I summon the senior counsellors? Most are on the hospital deck, helping with repairs after the gravitational anomaly.”

“Yes please, summon them,” Johan answered and shrugged at the girls, “It will be quicker than you going to get them, and they’ll pay more attention to Mary, once they get over the shock of hearing her.”