“Nonsense,” Fields retorted in a sharp voice.
Joanne’s face hardened. “Don’t snap at me like that, Corporal Fields!”
“I mean…” Fields’ face turned red and he stuttered. “I mean, if there were biological dangers here, they would have shown up on the scanner.”
Jeff smirked. Joanne was able to flip quickly between being chummy and standoffish. It was different from Irons’ predominantly authoritarian approach, but just as effective. Jeff sighed inwardly. He knew Joanne would have made a better XO than him. “What’s our next move?” he asked.
Irons took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “We’ll carry on exploring the ship. We’ve been through all the corridors between our quarters and the outer shell, without finding anything of interest. So we’ll start going deeper. But I’d like to change our strategy a little.”
“Strategy?” Finni asked. “What strategy?”
Irons turned his head and glared at the radar technician, eyes narrowed to slits. “So far, we’ve been systematically exploring all the turnoffs, in order to map out all accessible areas close to our quarters. We’ve been thorough, but we’ve only managed to expand our radius very slowly. Based on our explorations so far, there’s not much to discover. The rooms we’ve found are all empty. My guess is that there are other areas of the ship that are different from around here. And if that’s the case…”
Finni raised a hand. “But Green calculated that because of the fractal layout of the corridors—”
Irons interrupted him in a loud voice: “—perhaps the whole ship is as empty as the area around our quarters. That’s a hypothesis, no more.” He leaned forward. “And incidentally, I would ask that you do not interrupt me while I am speaking, Corporal Herrmanssson. Is that clear?”
Finni nodded.
“If other areas of the ship are structured differently, we’ll pursue another strategy and plan our reconnaissance missions so that we move as far away as possible from our quarters. We’ll guide the squads from HQ to the right turnoffs.” Irons turned to Joanne. “I suggest you go on the first of our modified missions tomorrow.”
Joanne nodded. “Sure.”
“Sir!” Shorty interjected. “You said two days ago that I could take over command of the squad tomorrow.”
Irons sighed and nodded. “You’re right, Private Short. I forgot. OK. You can join Private McGuinness tomorrow.”
“Do I have to?” Mac grumbled under his breath.
“Thank you, Sir,” Shorty said.
“We can send a second squad,” said Joanne. “Like we’ve been doing up to now, anyway.”
Irons tipped his head to the side uncertainly. Finally he nodded. “You’re right. Maybe we’ll make faster progress. Do you want to go?”
Joanne nodded. “Who’s coming with me? Any volunteers?” She looked at Jeff. “What about you?”
All eyes were on Jeff. If he refused or looked for a flimsy excuse, he would undermine his authority even further. “Sure. I’ll come with you.”
He didn’t actually want to go. He was spooked by the memory of being watched in the corridors. He couldn’t say why, but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was something waiting for them in the depths of the deserted ship.
9.
“That’s the turnoff,” Jeff said, glancing down at his handheld to be on the safe side. “Yes, G58. This is where Mac and I turned around a few days ago and went back. This is the furthest point we’ve been from HQ up to now.”
“Sure, I remember the spot,” Mac said. “I don’t need a handheld for that.”
Shorty nudged him. “We’re better scouts than our officers, eh? Like Lewis and Clarke!”
Mac bellowed with laughter.
“Get a hold of yourselves, boys,” Joanne said.
Jeff shook his head. The two technicians were in a surprisingly good mood this morning. The whole way down they’d been laughing and wisecracking. If Jeff hadn’t known better, he’d have guessed they’d knocked back a few beers before setting out. But maybe it was just their usual form of communication when they were alone. Jeff was sure they would have behaved differently if Irons had been with them.
“I suggest you two go down the right-hand corridor. Joanne and I will go straight ahead. Both corridors seem to lead deeper into the ship.
“Sure boss, let’s do it,” Mac said, without even giving Jeff a second glance.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather come with us? Without us, you might get lost,” Shorty joked.
Joanne stuck out her tongue. Jeff thought the two of them were starting to go too far.
“Ahhh, the lovebirds would rather be alone,” Mac gave a big wink. “Have fun, kids. And don’t forget to use a rubber!”
Howling with laughter, the two men headed off down the corridor.
Joanne pursed her lips.
Jeff would have liked to ignore what they’d said, but he couldn’t do that in Joanne’s presence.
He straightened up. “Private Short! Private McGuinness!”
They stopped and turned around, both of them still grinning.
What should he say now?
“What is it?” Mac asked.
Should he give them both a warning? Or send them back to their quarters? Report them to Irons? It all seemed so childish.
He sighed. “Nothing. Go.”
Chuckling, the two men set off.
Jeff avoided looking at Joanne. Luckily he had to send a message to Irons. He gave their position and the direction the squads were taking.
Meanwhile, Joanne had switched on her flashlight and was shining it down the corridor. There were no more intersections in sight. Jeff put his handheld away and marched on. His shipmate stayed close on his heels.
“You shouldn’t have let Shorty and Mac get away with that,” she said finally.
Did he have to listen to another lecture now? He wasn’t in the mood. He knew he’d reacted the wrong way again. “Drop it—please,” he said.
“I didn’t want to undermine your authority, but next time I’m going to say something.”
“I get it.”
“You really need to start—”
He stopped in his tracks and clenched his fists. “Leave it!” His voice sounded angrier than he’d intended it to.
Joanne looked at him in astonishment for a moment, then began to laugh.
“What?” Jeff asked irritably. “What’s so funny?”
Joanne jabbed his chest lightly with her forefinger. She was still laughing. “You! You’re funny. That tone you just used with me—you would have been better off using it on Mac and Shorty. You sounded really pissed and authoritative. When you speak like that, you sound like a real XO.”
“Forget it,” Jeff said grumpily. “Come on, let’s go!”
Side by side, they continued down the corridor in silence. Jeff kept glancing down at his handheld. The corridor was surprisingly steep. Somewhere behind them, the gravitational vector had changed again. He hadn’t noticed the change, but his handheld showed him the spot where it had been registered by the acceleration sensor. They were now approaching a depth of just over half a mile. He kept wondering what else was waiting for them inside this strange ship, which had been abandoned for eons, and all of a sudden his hands began to shake. He was scared. Yes, scared!
Jeff took several deep breaths. “Do you think there are areas of this ship that are different from this one?” he asked, not so much out of interest, but more to break the awkward silence.
“I have no idea,” Joanne answered. “If we believe what the computer says, there’s nothing to find on this ship. In that case, it probably looks the same as it does here everywhere, and the machines and aggregates are all computer-controlled and hidden behind thick walls. In that case, all this running around is just a work-out. At least we’ll stay fit until we reach Sigma-7.”