THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 2339 words) [2/15] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 07 2016	Views/Reads: 1891/1406	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 2 - CH 2

TWO 

It made no difference to space that it was five in the morning. The
endless, infinite, blue-blackness never changed whether it was day or 
night. It made a lot of difference however to the sleepy Communications 
Officer dozing in front of his console on the Fleet Executive Ship, the 
Serval. Apart from a few routine messages, the console had been blank 
since he came on at midnight and he expected it to stay that way until 
he finished his shift at six. 

He had just settled down to kill the last hour when the console alarm
woke him. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and glanced at the monitor. 
It was a message about a stolen Fleet Ship and warned all to be on the 
alert for it. There followed a description, its markings and its last 
position. 

‘Shit, it'll be miles away by now,' the Comms Officer thought drowsily
to himself as the print-out slid smoothly into the collection tray. 

He tapped in an acknowledgement and sent it. Yawning, he read the
print-out again and wondered if he should wake the Captain. It was just 
after five and it was doubtful if they'd see the Ship. 

They were returning from the planet Reevax, their mission successfully
completed a few days ahead of schedule and as a reward, the Captain was 
working with only skeleton crews until their return to Earth, giving 
the others as much time off as possible. It was doubtful that he'd be 
ecstatic if he himself was woken an hour before he was due on the 
Bridge with some unimportant message about a stolen Ship. 

The Comms Officer decided to inform him of the message at six when he
appeared on the Bridge. He shoved the print-out back into the tray and 
settled more comfortably in his chair. 

In Fleet Control Room on Earth, the equally tired Comms Officer read the
acknowledgement from the Serval and he also had to make a decision – 
should he inform Commander Tyler or not? 

Like his opposite number he shoved the acknowledgement back into its
tray. Hell, it was just another message from yet another Fleet Ship 
returning from yet another mission. Tyler would read it with the other 
messages when he arrived later on. 

***** 

On Fleet Falcon RX115C, the Ship's Computer was humming softly to
itself. Occasionally as scanner information came in it stopped humming 
and made minor course alterations then recommenced its soft humming. 

Corthan and Blaze were the nightshift Bridge Officers and Corthan was
lying on the couch, pretending to doze, to allow Blaze command of the 
Ship. And how he relished it, much to the amusement of both Corthan and 
the Computer! 

He prowled round ceaselessly, sitting in Sinto's chair then Miller's and
was currently in the Captain's. At one point he had ordered all weapons 
on standby to blow apart an approaching gigantic meteor however the 
Computer had talked him into a slight course change to avoid it. 

Blaze had considered this and then agreed, provided he could pilot
manually and the Computer had reluctantly permitted this, closely 
following his every move until they passed the meteor and it then took 
control again. 

“Send a message to Fleet Control,” Blaze ordered. “Tell them we just
missed hitting a meteor as big as Earth thanks to me.” 

Corthan bit back a laugh, as did the Computer. 

“Why certainly, young Blaze, or should I say Bridge Officer,” it
responded. “Sending message now.” 

Blaze grinned and sat back, unaware that the message was not sent. He
gazed at the large Observation Screen for a few moments then frowned. 
“So how long till we get to this Black Hole thing then?” he asked. 


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