
Subj : New Beginnings(12)
To   : All
From : Skyhawk #1
Date : Thu Jun 29 1995 22:57:14 PST

                            New Beginnings(12)
                          By Daniel C. Harrison(Skyhawk)
      
     Before she realized it, it was time. A warning buzzer sounded. "Stand by."
she said. She hoped if it wasn't smooth things were secure below. "Cut to full
hyperdrive...now!"
     Long punched it and, for a moment, it seemed as if they were standing
still. She seemed to be moving slower and, the stars began to stretch out
farther and farther apart. Then, with an explosion of color, they turned
blinding white and, the ship was thrown forward with incredible force! God,
something was wrong! They were spinning, the guidance system was not
functioning! "Terminate! Terminate, now!" she shouted.
     With surprising speed, Long  acted and cut the link..to no avail. The
Outlander was out of control now and Candar could tell, the inertial dampeners
weren't functioning to full capacity either. What the hell had gone wrong now?
She swore and tried to terminate herself but, the velocity was only
increasing. They were in full hyperdrive mode now. Nothing to do but try to
stabilize and hope they didn't explode. "Some piece of shit youir company sent
us out in!" Long shouted.
     "If I ever do get back to earth, I'm going to kick the corporate
president's ass!" She was fighting now, trying to regain control. "I need more
power to the secondary boosters, Henry! We have no computer guidance at all!"
     "Understood." He seemed pleased she had used his name. They were working
as a team now, desperately trying to regain control of the spinning ship. She
hit the intercom, "Jerry! Jerry, answer damn it! Cut all power, do you hear me!
Cut it, now!" There was no answer. She turned to Long. "I have to trust you.
Take over. Try to stabilize this hulk! I'm going below and find out what's
happening. Get us out of hyperdrive if you can!" She was having to shout as,
the noise from the engines was so high pitched she could barely hear herself
think. He nodded and, she pulled herself over to the ladder. She was just about
to move down when, a tremendous whine was heard and, an explosion shook the
Outlander. God, what now? Immediately, she noticed she felt lighter. Just what
they needed. "Weve lost artificial gravity! Cut in the emergency systems!"
Long acted but, again there was no response. She was floating now and, so was
every other object in the room. Her flight bag soared off the console and came
straight at her head. She ducked and it smacked the wall. Swearing, she moved
down the ladder and reached the corridor below. Pulling herself along the
handles in the wall, she finally reached the engine room. There were shouts
within...and smoke! "Jerry!" She shouted as she moved.
     The engine room was a mess. Objects were everywhere and, she could see one
of the men she didn't know helplessly floating near the ceiling. "Where's
Jerry?" she shouted. He pointed back toward the engines. She let go of the wall
and pushed off in that direction. This was nothing short of hell...not even
the Delazar trip had been this bad! She grabbed a handhold on the opposite wall
and pulled herself downward. Something had changed, the pitch of the engines
were lower. Also, the ship didn't seem to be shifting as much. Had Long
actually gained control? God, what a feat that would be! Maybe he was better
than she had thought. She spied Jerry now, and the others. They were by one of
the consoles, and it was on fire. Jerry was hanging onto an extinguisher and
trying desperately to put it out while the others watched. Some crew! Sam Boil
looked about ready to panic. This was the last straw. If this hulk could do it,
she was turning back for earth. The hell had gone on long enough. "Jerry, what
happened?" she shouted.
     He looked up quickly. "Get your ass out of here back up to the bridge! I
can handle this. Number four engine is gone...the gravitron blew! Also, I think
onboard guidance is completely gone. When you went to hyperdrive, this
happened!" He indicated the console fire which he had successfully brought
under control. "I'll give you a full report. Don't leave us in the hands of
that temp you have up there!" He tured away and finished making sure the fire
was out. "I'll have artificial grav in a day or two...I hope." 
     She watched them work for a minute then pulled herself down toward the
passenger area. Wasn't this going to be fun? She could hear the screams
already. Talking them into cryo would be a real chore now.  She moved
skillfully along the wall and, she finally reached her goal. The door opened to
reveal what looked like a sick comedy act. Several people were stuck moving
along the ceiling. Carnigan was hanging onto a woman and they were spinning
helplessly in the air. Children were everywhere and having the time of their
lives. Most were doing flips and laughing with glee. She smiled, thinking a
moment of Terry...if only. She dismissed the thought and entered. "Is everyone
alright?"
     "This is fun!" a little girl shouted. "Thank you, Captain."
     Carnigan exploded. "I'm going to burn you for this, Millis! Your the worst
pilot I've ever been with. This ship is a disgrace!"
     "I agree about the ship." She had pushed herself off the wall and floated
up to meet him." However, I'm doing the best with what I have. Blame the
wonderful company you gave all your money to. And I'd be careful what you said
to me cause, were not out of this yet. The main guidance system is completely
burned out. It complicates things."
     "Fix it, you incompetent fool!" he shouted. "We paid for this service
and, you have already failed in it! I'm going to..."
     She slapped him hard sending him spinning head over heels backward till he
slammed into the wall. Unconscious, he floated through the air bouncing off
objects. The woman seemed amused as she turned to Candar. "Do you think
everything will be alright, Captain? I'm sorry for my husband's rudeness."
     "Train him then. I'll let you know how things are when I find out. Till
then, keep him out of my face! Tell whoever is competent here to get everyone
ready for cryo sleep...it should have been done earlier."
     "I will." the woman said. She tried to move and, Candar gently pushed her
toward the far wall so she could catch a hand hold and climb down. She reached
the wall and smiled, "Thank you, Captain." Candar nodded and left..      

Subj : New Beginnings
To   : All
From : Skyhawk #1
Date : Sun Jul 02 1995 18:45:54 PST

                             New Beginnings(13)
                           By Daniel C. Harrison(Skyhawk)
     
     The noise from the engines was intense as she pulled herself through the
corridors back to the main cargo area. Reaching the door of Lock One, she
opened it and ducked as a box flew over her head. Moving skillfully from years
of zero g experience, Candar found the switch for the lights and was rewarded
with chaos. Everywhere, boxes, bags, equipment was moving. With the exception
of heavy machinery which was chained down, it looked like a circus. Using her
trained eye, she found quickly that, there was machinery parts near the back
for when the colony landed and began to build. They would be a long way from
Earth and, until industry was formed of some sort, they would need all they
had. As she pulled herself along the right wall moving toward the rear of the
compartment, she found at last what she sought..shuttle parts. The colony had
managed to buy four small shuttles with their combined savings. Those were
secured in Lock Two with other heavy equipment. But, the parts was what she was
interested in. There would be nothing to repair a hyperdrive system if anything
major had blown. But, the odds of finding something to repair the guidance
system were pretty good. She searched around for a crowbar and caught one
floating nearby. Prying with all her strength, she broke the seal on the
biggest box and checked inside. Nothing of use. Only engine parts for magno
flux cars and, hydraulic lines for various systems. She would have to have Boil
and the others check later when she had more time. She continued on, moving to
the door.
     The tremendous jolt that hit next caught her unawares. Before she could
stop it, the object hit her...a round heavy plate of steel. Spinning crazily,
she bounced off the far wall, her vision blurred. Her head felt light as she
continued to drift. Putting her hands out in front of her, she barely stopped
herself from hitting the next wall. It was then it hit her..she couldn't see!
Gasping for a moment, Candar tried desperately to search for a light switch.
The room had gone dark! Objects were bouncing against her. She felt along the
wall, feeling like a little girl again, terrified of the dark. Her hands caught
on what felt like the door panel and, she pushed it. The door opened and, she
started to smile..then stopped. The door was open, she could feel the heat and
the wide opening. But she was still blind. Oh God. She pushed herself out into
the corridor and grabbed what felt like a handhold. Which way was the bridge?
How the hell was she to move around. She listened over a moment. The
engines..the engine room had been behind her when she came down. So, that meant
it had to be..forward. She pushed herself off and pulled along the wall.
Again, she groaned as an object hit her. Artificial grav had to be fixed and
soon before anyone else got hurt. Where was the intercom? She felt for awhile
trying to determine where she was. It was terrifying. All her life, she had
depended on her keen senses. Her vision was excellent..or had been. This was
temporary. Oh Lord, it had to be! How could she function like this? She
continued on for awhile until, her head hit something. She could hear swearing
above her..Long! And, this felt like the ladder which led up to the bridge.
Grabbing onto it like a life preserver, Candar pulled herself up through the
hatch. "Long?"
     "Yeah," he responded. "I got us out of hyperdrive if you hadn't noticed.
It took pulling out some of the circuit boards to do it though. Damn, I think I
cut my finger..." he stopped short. "God! Your head is bleeding! What the hell
happened?"
     "I made a wrong turn." she answered, and felt for a chair. Finding it,
she sat down...and missed striking the floor hard.
     "What's wrong?" he asked. Was there concern in his voice. "Can't you see?"
There was a moment of silence as she tried to think of some way to save face.
She had always been so independent..every ready to be the best. "You can't, can
you?" he was silent for a moment. "Damn. What the hell..."
     "Give me a report," she cut him off. "I'm still in command of this ship. I
need to know what's going on."
     "Okay." He sighed. "Hyperdrive engines are down..at least for now. Number
four will not be back up without a new grivitron unit. I suggest we shut down
two or six to balance it out. Otherwise when we do get going, we'll run like a
lopsided dog."
     "Agreed." she nodded. Why couldn't she see? The hit hadn't been that hard,
she had only had her brains scrambled a little. She had taken harder hits than
that in training! She had to maintain her authority here. "Okay, then what
about intertial dampeners? Will they be full capacity?"
     "I don't think they ever were." he coughed a second then stopped. "You
really can't see, can you? You should go to the infirmary now."
     "I said, give me the report." Her voice was low and dangerous now. "If you
can't follow my orders, then get off my bridge."
     "If I do," he shot back sarcastically,"you'll be sitting here till we slam
into a rock or plow into  Hycenda! You need me now more than ever. I'm not
trying to piss you off again, I'm trying to help!"
     "I thought you hated me." she whispered. "The report please?"
     "Right." He was silent again wrestling with the situation in his
mind. "Jerry reports it will be a few days before the guidance systems are
back to normal. If he can make do with the parts. There's not enough left
to.."
     "Tell him to get his butt down to Lock One and raid the colony
machinery parts! Take whatever he needs, we'll deal with it later." 
Her fear was growing and, she weas trying hard to hide it. Wh couldn't she
see? For the first time since Terry had died, she was terrified. 
     "Those parts are for when we reach Hycenda! We need them." Long's tone
was full of anger. "If we use them now, we wont have them for when we
really  have to have them."
     "if we don't," she said tightly, we wont even reach Hycenda! This
piece of shit wont make it even past sublight without a guidance system!
Not to mention the hyperdrive. We really drew the short straw on this   
trip! Follow my orders, please."
                            
 "I understand." Long moved to the intercom. What would they do when they
reached Hycenda?

       
                        
