The Tides of Space - Chapter 4, by Linda

The Tides of Space

by Linda

~~~~

Chapter 4: The Wreck of the Vahklas

Tavin had decided to take the more direct route to the Human colony that Kov had suggested. He consulted with Tolaris and Kov about the risks of going through a region known to develop anomalies that threw ships off course. It had been quiet the past twenty years and no one had determined the periodicity of the phenomenon. An Andorian freighter had disappeared after its last subspace transmission from that area over a hundred years ago. A Vulcan ship had experienced turbulence and had been bounced a light year off course twenty-one years ago. Tolaris said it would certainly save them time and they might get a bonus for delivering the colonists a day or two earlier than the revised schedule they had transmitted. Kov said the ship’s systems were holding but it would be helpful to have extra time at the colony to make repairs so they could return the students to Earth according to the new schedule. Tavin decided the risk of taking the short cut was minimal and ordered the course change.

….

Kov moved his head slightly on the pillow. “Liz, why did your brother let you drink beer when you were three years old? He was always so protective, but that time he was negligent.”

Now that they were bonded, Liz had become used to Kov bringing up incidents in her life that she had never broached verbally with him. “Oh Kov, didn’t your sister ever relax her vigilance over you? Trip was a child. Only eleven then, I think. You see my memory more clearly than I do. What a marvelous capacity Vulcans have with these melds. I never would have guessed such powers of the mind were possible. You don’t think less of Trip because of that incident, do you?” Liz touched Kov’s chin with the back of her fingers.

“No, I was just trying to understand it. My parents never used mind-numbing substances like alcohol at home, thereby enticing their children to try them. That is not to say there are none on Vulcan. We do have a wine industry. My parents have had wine at public restaurants with other adults, but never at home for our meals as a family.”

“Did they drive home under the influence of the wine?”

“You mean did they allow it to impair their ability to drive? Never. They would have a glass with the meal, then sit discussing tedious subjects over several hours before going home.”

Liz rolled over and lifted her head so she could watch her finger trace the line of Kov’s upper lip. She felt the graininess of a day’s growth of hair. It was interesting that Vulcans also had to shave. It still surprised her that they had evolved on a different world. Were they somehow genetically related, even so? No one had even speculated on it as far as she knew. “My father drank only one bottle of beer after our evening meal and did not go out after that. He would not drink away from home just to prevent the possibility that he might be impaired while driving.”

“Well then, both our families tried to handle such substances responsibly. And your brother was punished for his behavior, I understand, through your memory.”

“He sure was. That became a cautionary tale that he kept repeating to me when we were older. I think he still feels guilty about it.”

….

The shortcut was battering the old ship, but they were closer to the Human colony than on the former route. Some of the eddies could be avoided by the vigilance of the helmsman. Still, they caught the edge of an eddy twice and the damage was substantial. The bridge crew and engineering staff were told to keep quiet about the damage. But on a ship as small as the Vahklas, it was impossible to hide things for long. Rumors flew from Vulcan to Human and back to Vulcan as smoothly as if they had been one species, one culture. Activities continued but the collective mood of the ship was subdued.

The Vahklas started fighting the strong pull of another anomaly, which was carrying them off their course. Kov decided to shut down the warp drive until the anomaly dissipated. It would save wear on the engines. With less to do, and to distract himself, Kov joined a seminar with Liz that Silek was conducting. Silek, with the aid of Thomas, had prepared translations of short sections from the works of famous Vulcan philosophers. The students had been asking for these. The colonists, generally older, did not share the student’s enthusiasm for Vulcan culture though some of them did, out of boredom, attend a few of the workshops. Mostly they just did not see the point, as they would soon be isolated in a small agricultural community and hard at work setting it up over the next few years.

“Ritual is important to sentient beings because self awareness requires that they symbolically acknowledge that the things they do have meaning.” Silek stated.

“What is that from?” asked Liz.

“The teachings of Surak,” Kov replied almost reverently.

His demeanor prompted Liz to ask: “Do Vulcans have gods?”

Kov turned to Liz with an impish grin. “Do you mean like superior beings who come to the aid of people? Well I guess that would be Vulcans for Humans.”

There was laughter from both the Vulcans and Humans attending the seminar. They had become comfortable enough in each other’s presence to discuss such things. Liz knew Kov was practicing his sense of humor so she responded in kind “We got over that stage, I think. Ambassador Soval and all. He is far too Human to be a god. I think there was one media clip where he was almost hopping up and down in his ambassadorial robes, he was so put out. I believe the Humans standing beside him were practicing an almost Vulcan like poker-faced calm. How the mighty have fallen.”

Kov patted Liz’s knee and no Vulcan found that a breach of manners. “Oh dear. Familiarity breeds contempt, I think the Human expression would be. Just when I was starting to appreciate the elevated status.”

“Let me show you the advantages of not being a god, the advantages of familiarity,” said Liz later in their quarters as she took the cup of tea he brought her. She set it on top of a stack of manuals so she could run a finger enticingly along the side of his neck. She gently jogged her finger around the little mole, which seemed to be sprouting a hair again. These dear little imperfections made him unique, touchable, and unquestionably hers.

….

One morning Liz and Kov were using a metal cutter and a welding torch to reconfigure a catwalk to the design on a paper Liz had tacked to a console nearby. Kov was not sure that this was not busy work, knowing the ship’s overall condition. The ship was near the end of its life and the V’tosh Ku’tar would need a new place to live. Kov was looking forward to seeing the Human colony world. Tavin had been sounding out the colonists about an extended stay for his crew on a later supply run. Though reluctant at first to open their community to outsiders, the colonists had observed the physical strength of the Vulcan crew and their dedication to getting their jobs done. They did not give a definite no to the prospect of an extended visit. Tavin thought that if they got along with the Human settlers, perhaps a neighboring V’tosh colony might be possible or even a mixed Human/Vulcan colony. This was of interest to Kov who thought he and Liz might be happier in such a community.

Liz was pleased when they at least finished this one job to make Kov’s rounds safer. After its completion, they found refuge from the ship’s troubles in their private quarters. They fond the time together pleasing, even if they only were doing a bit of housekeeping. There was nothing they could not talk about openly now. Cultural differences were frankly discussed which made an understanding of them easier for both of them. Liz remarked: “Ah. I think Vulcans are good at coming up with excuses. Always very logical ones, of course. But it doesn’t seem to me we were restricted in any way last night, cultural or otherwise. And that Vulcan Kama Sutra work we found in the database hardly had anything Humans don’t know about.”

“No. We fit together very nicely.”

Liz laughed. “I love your expressions. They are so full of engineering references. And I love our differences, they add a spice to life. ‘Viva la difference’ as the French say.”

“Is that the Human equivalent for IDIC?” Kov wanted to know.

“Something like that, I think. I love you Kov. I don’t think I would ever get tired of holding you.”

Kov sniffled and his chin trembled. “No one ever said they loved me. Well, not verbally as you always do.”

Liz straightened up from folding clothes. “Not even your mother?”

“No. But I know she does because Vulcans express emotion through touch. But she never said it. It is nice to have what you say with your touch confirmed with your voice. It makes it….makes it official.” Kov buried his face in Liz’s hair. This disarranged a hair that annoyingly tickled her forehead so Liz reached up to brush it aside. She found more hairs sticking to her forehead because they were wet. Wet with Vulcan tears.

They held each other in silence for some time before Kov sighed. He was again feeling his body respond to her closeness. “Regretfully we must get on with our day. My shift. And you need to replenish your energy with food. You used up quite a bit of energy last night.”

“We both did. Lunch sounds great.”

….

Diary entry May 30, 2153:

Ambassador Soval aside, I was used to seeing a calm arrogant Vulcan presence in our news media on Earth. To see the tense, pale visages of the engine room crew running from this control panel to that, was unnerving. Vulcans get scared too. They hold to their training under pressure as Humans do, but they are not invincible like some Humans wished them to be with one breath, while complaining about their arrogance with the next.

….

The ship was making faltering motions again as the inertial dampers experienced intermittent problems. That made Liz reach out her arm to feel her way along the wall. She was a good boat handler in the Keys and had never been seasick. But now, she imagined she could become sick. Perhaps it was partly fear, as the vastness of space was a terrifying concept to her. Who knew where these anomalies, like tides, would pull the old ship. On a boat, she knew what to do: how to navigate home by GPS and how to turn the wheel to keep a 45-degree angle to the waves. But here she had to trust Tavin and Kov and the rest of the Vulcan crew. She wished her brother Trip was here.

Kov appeared around a corner, with relief in his eyes when he spotted her. “Liz, you know how to get to and activate an escape pod? This is just in case, no need to deploy them yet. Their use is quite simple because this is a civilian ship designed for unskilled space travelers.” Kov took her hand to lead her to the closest pods to their quarters.

“Are things that bad Kov? You had the ship overhauled during the three weeks you were on Earth, didn’t you?”

“Your technicians did their best. But even Vulcan technicians are now unfamiliar with this old design. New parts do not fit and the old ones are no longer made. My staff has had to manufacture parts from materials on board. We thought they were ok, but these parts are not quite the same and they wear out too fast. We are looking for an M class world to land on so we can be comfortable until our distress signal is answered.”

Liz inhaled sharply before she spoke. “Distress signal! So we are in big trouble, aren’t we? I thought this ship was not able to land on a planet.”

“We can land once.”

“And never take off again, right?”

Kov wanted to reassure Liz, but would not lie to her. “That is so. Don’t worry, we can do this. I have a reason to be less reckless with my life now that I have you. I won’t let anything harm you.”

….

Diary entry June 13, 2153:

At first when systems began to fail and we dropped out of warp, I asked myself “What kind of engineer is Kov anyway? This would never have happened to my brother.” But the Vahklas was way beyond exhausted. Tavin told me he only got the old condemned tub because it was being sold for cheap scrap and he bribed some unprincipled official into giving him a space worthy certification. And I thought all Vulcans were honorable. Kov snorted and smothered a laugh when he heard me say that. Tavin was distraught that his decision to buy the ship led to our current situation. But he would never have been able to find a place to hold his little community together for the past ten years other than on this outmoded ship.

The anomaly or space tide or whatever they wish to call it, has swept us light years off course with each hour that passes and done major damage to the ship’s systems. The navigation system doesn’t know where we are. And shortly after the stars stopped spinning by, the COM system failed completely. Then the warp drive was out of balance when Kov tried to restart the engines. The core was in such a dangerous condition that Tavin gave the order to eject it. We have gone for two weeks on impulse drive trying to reach a nearby star system. We entered this system which has an M class planet. It was the only place we could reach before the impulse drive also started to die. No warp capable civilization was detected with the sensors. So going into orbit around the planet on thrusters for a closer look was all we could do. Sure looked earth-like from up here, and no sentient life forms were detected. Kov fires the thrusters on a two-hour schedule to maintain orbit.

The senior ship’s officers had several meetings while we Human passengers, crew people, and non-crew V’tosh gathered over tea on the mess deck. We speculated on what ‘the high command’ as the Vulcans called them or the ‘alpha males’ as we Humans nervously called them, were up to. Kov has become tight lipped in our quarters at night and I do not press him. Our lovemaking is gentle but subdued. He holds me at night and combs my hair out in the morning like each time might be the last. My eyes ask the question and his seem to say “I don’t know”. Protective feelings were all I could read telepathically so I projected “I trust you.”

Diary entry June 15, 2153

A decision was reached and actions have become purposeful. Tavin sends down teams in the shuttle to explore the surface of the planet. I went on one with T’Via and T’Mor to collect some plant samples. Then we had an all hands meeting. Tavin told us the ship was dying, as if we didn’t already know. It could only hold orbit for about 3.8 more weeks. We are moving to the surface of the planet to await rescue. Everything salvageable from the ship will be brought down by continuous shuttle flights. All of us are to help in stripping the ship. An emergency broadcast buoy will be put in orbit and we will all be ferried down before a skeleton crew is chosen to crash land the ship while it still has thrusters. Tavin shows optimism that we will survive.

Yesterday I searched for Kov all through his domain. I was becoming more apprehensive with each step. Was he avoiding me? Then he looked up at me when I stuck my head into one of those equipment access passageways. He and Silek had an access panel removed and parts were all over the deck grating. “Liz please return to our quarters and make us some tea. I will tell you what you wish to know in about 22.6 minutes.” He sounded so formal.

“Yes then. I will be waiting.” I almost said, “Yes sir” when his clipped demeanor put knots in my stomach. Over tea he told me that he and Silek were to ride the ship down. I cried. He held me. We talked of it no more.

….

The old shuttlecraft which they had picked up as an afterthought was proving its worth. It had been accepted as payment for a shipment of seed grain to a Vulcan colony world. Due to a poor harvest, there had not been the cash payment Tavin had expected. “This is what you get for choosing a colony site just like the home world: desert and not much else,” thought Tavin. After seeing the lush green foliage and deep dark soil of Earth, and knowing many such Earth-like worlds had been discovered without sentient life forms, Tavin did not feel his people needed to deprive themselves of a little variety in biota. But like most colonists, Vulcans chose colony sites that were familiar. Tavin was not going to deprive them of the grain, so the shuttlecraft, battered and leaking, was trundled into the Vahklas’s only shuttle bay. Kov had tinkered with it in his spare time and they had used it occasionally to visit planetary surfaces. Now in their hour of need, that shuttlecraft was proving its worth.

Most of the supplies bound for the Human colony had been taken to the planet’s surface. The sheep were carried down five at a time, their feet trussed so they would not run around in the limited shuttle space. The pet sehlats and the dogs were all crowded into the shuttle at once. There was only one injury when a sehlat swiped a dog that was curious about her pup. They were now dismantling the bunks, mess tables, and easily unboltable equipment. Kov was struggling to keep the failing thrusters online by only firing them once every four hours now to keep the orbit stable.

Tavin weighed the advantage of keeping more people onboard to dismantle doors, decking, and parts of the ship small enough to fit in the shuttle vs. ferrying them down to the planet for safety. He had meditated before deciding if he would grant Kov’s request to ride the ship down through the atmosphere when the thrusters could no longer keep it in orbit. Kov wanted to land the damn thing so they could salvage more materials. Tavin did not want to loose both the ship and Kov. So Tavin tried to enlist Liz to convince Kov to abandon the old tub. Humans were a surprise and a half. Liz volunteered to stay aboard with Kov and help him bring the ship down.

….

All the ships stores, tools, spare parts, even access panel plates and miles of wiring had been removed. The ship was gutted, with the only useful materials left being the huge warp engine housing and bulkheads. Also the large tanks of deuterium, fuel for both the Vahklas’s and the shuttle’s impulse engines, could not be moved. They were lucky to have removed as much as they had. Tavin, Tolaris, Silek, Kov, Thomas, and Liz where the only people onboard when during a scheduled burn, the thrusters gave only a wheeze and stopped. Tavin dropped the coils of wiring he had just bound together and ran down the companionway to the engine room.
“Kov, does this misfiring mean you can no longer steer the ship?”

“Steering is no longer possible.” Kov confirmed.

Tavin’s olive complexion paled. “Then there is no logic in you riding the ship down. Everybody to the shuttle! This is an order!”

Kov, both hands on ladder railings, leaped down its steps two at a time. “I have set the hull plating force field to maximum. It will probably keep the ship from disintegrating. Where is Liz?”

“Over here! Do I have time to drag this tool box to the shuttle?” she shouted across the engine room.

“No,” barked Tavin, grabbing her arm and pulling her almost off her feet.

“No Vulcan dignified calm here now,” thought Liz as she tried to keep her feet under her as Tavin pulled her along the dimly lighted companionway. She heard Kov’s steps behind her. “Where is Silek? And Thomas?” She managed to spit out between taking in gulps of thin air now that the recycling apparatus was set to minimum.

“What, not worried about me?” asked Tolaris appearing from a dark cabin whose door had been ripped off and removed to the planet a week ago.

“That was going to be my next question!” Liz turned sharply so her forward momentum would not snap her body as Tavin towed her round a corner toward the shuttle bay. When she stumbled, Kov stabilized her with both his hands so that Tavin only slowed briefly. Tolaris zipped around the trio and hit the lighting panel in the shuttle bay. All four of them tumbled into the shuttlecraft and Kov slammed its door down. Silek was already strapped into the pilot’s chair. “Where’s Thomas!” screamed Liz.

“He went to strip off some doors on C deck. That was 36.9 minutes ago.” Silek explained, long Vulcan hands poised over the shuttle controls waiting for Tavin’s orders.
Tavin lifted the shuttle door, tripped over the doorframe lip, and stumbled to a wall com unit. “I removed the wiring from that yesterday,” said Silek, both eyebrows raised in alarm.

Tavin’s lined face looked drained. He spun back to the shuttle, hopped in and slammed the door. “I hope you did not also remove the wiring to the shuttle bay space door.”

“No,” answered a contrite Silek.

“Then open it. Don’t take time to depressurize,” said Tavin as he snapped on his harness. Silek stabbed a control on the shuttle’s console. The shuttle bay door exploded outward from the air pressure when open only a couple of inches. The jagged broken door edge caught the tip of a nacelle as the shuttle was swept out with the air in the bay, causing it to roll several times until Silek corrected its attitude a few hundred yards from the Vahklas. “Follow her down.” Ordered Tavin. “Liz can you work the global grid system? Set waypoints when any parts break off the Vahklas. We will track the path of the ship and mark its crash site. I hope to salvage what we can.”

“Thomas,” sniffed Liz.

“We know Liz. We know.” Kov briefly touched Liz’s hand then started helping her with the grid system controls.

Liz activated the system just as they felt the first grating of the shuttle’s force field on the outer edge of the atmosphere. The red skin of the Vahklas started to glow out in front of them. The Vahklas’s nacelle rings started to bend inward, or was that a trick of the light? No, they bent against the hull, breaking through at one point, and litter from the ship’s interior started to spill out. Then one section of nacelle broke off the Vahklas and Liz punched a waypoint marker. The piece spun off and the shuttle passed it, following the Vahklas.

Liz had ridden down to the planet many times, but this was faster, rougher. They were over the sea now. If the Vahklas splashed into the sea, there would be no salvage. But the old ship plummeted at an angle due to its velocity and orientation at the last weak firing of its thrusters in orbit. Land appeared and land features rapidly gained definition. Mountains. Not the best either. Then they were over foothills, then a vast plain. No, a desert and the Vahklas hit. Bounced. The forward docking extensions dug into the ground and broke off, making the hull pitch-pole several times before smashing down on its back and start sliding, slicing a gouge into the planet’s surface. As it traveled, it split and broke into pieces, which sheered off in several directions. Then it was over, what was left of the hull stopped moving. Liz almost forgot to hit the waypoint as the shuttle sped by, and then decelerated into a long turn. They could see flames, a couple of small explosions. Kov did not think the heavily encased deuterium storage canisters had been ruptured. At least he hoped not, for there was enough fuel in them to run the shuttle’s impulse drive for years. Liz hit a waypoint again. Too many was better than too few.

“That’s enough Liz,” said Tavin. “We have it. Lets go to the camp.”

Liz brought up the waypoint for their camp, then sank back into her seat and looked at Tavin. That was your ship. I think a Human captain would be sad. Is it the same for a Vulcan captain?”

Tavin turned toward her, the corners of his mouth moved slightly. “I think that it must be. But it is the people that count. We got them down.”

Liz turned to look out a view port and thought “Except Thomas.”

Continue to Chapter 5

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