Wreck of the Nebula Dream (10 page)

“What do we do to detach from the
Dream?
” demanded the closest passenger.

“There’ll be instructions on the inside of the LB airlock, in Basic and about ten other Sector languages. You dog the hatch shut like this.” Nick mimicked the necessary move twice for the men. “The LB’s AI will do the rest.”

“But what about you?” asked one, pausing on the threshold. “Shouldn’t we –”

“Don’t wait for us.” Gesturing for the man to proceed, Nick was emphatic. “You heard her say there’s another LB up on the Second Level. We’ll be okay.”

Without further comment or question, the four civilians disappeared down the short corridor. The D’nvannae Brother, Khevan, shook his head and moved away from the portal to stand by Mara, who was fidgeting anxiously, ready to make the trip to Level Two with no further delays.

“I’ll go with you,” the Brother said. “If these children are trapped, you may need more help than this lady alone can provide.”

“Suit yourself.” Nick slammed the corridor access door shut and slapped a closing code into the controls. “Lords of Space be with them.”

He stepped away, taking Mara gently by the elbow, ready to concentrate on the next challenge of the disastrous night. “Lead the way.”

 
She shoved her hair back again with one hand as they sprinted through the corridor. Nick noticed her elegantly trimmed and painted nails were now broken off, her hand scratched and bruised. “I appreciate this,” she said, not slowing down. “It was awful to hear Paolo crying, and I couldn’t get anyone to stop and help, not even the crew.”

“At least you saw a crew member,” Nick told her grimly. “For all the publicity about the number of crew per passenger, they sure have been in hiding tonight.”

“Maybe we’re better off without them, if they fly lifeboats as poorly as they flew this ship,.” Khevan said, laughing with a touch of bitter humor as he easily kept pace with Nick. “How far to the moving stairs for the next level?”

“Not that way,” Mara said. “Takes too long. We’re going in here.” Sliding to a stop at a door labeled “Crew Access Only,” she punched a short code into the control panel. “This is how I got here after I found the stairs blocked. People fighting, trampling each other, panicking – an ugly scene. So I took another way.”

Nick was impressed. “Crew anti-grav shaft.” The three of them stepped into the silvery stream of the upgrav, riding it swiftly to the next level. “Where did you learn to ride grav streams? Most civilians don’t have the head for this stuff – no training.”

She was putting her hair up in a twist, efficiently wrapping the gleaming strands into a quick knot. “I’m a contracts specialist for Loxton Galactic Trading. I worked my way up from assistant field agent, so I’ve traveled on dozens of ships over the years, most of which were a lot less elegant than this one. Grav shafts were all they had. No stairs.” She leaned her head back, gauging how much further to Level Two. “The access codes tend to be standard, only about three variations, so I took a chance SMT used the same set. And I was right, thank the Lords. Here we are, coming up on the left.”

Reaching out a graceful hand, Mara stopped their progress, opening the portal into the new corridor with one quick motion. They stepped out, Nick and Khevan moving fluidly to offer protection, if needed, against whatever the conditions might be on Level Two.

“What a mess,” Nick said, checking the area. Papers, clothes, unidentifiable items lay strewn about.

Mara tugged at his sleeve. “It’s the cabin three doors away from mine, this way. We came up on the shuttle with them, remember?”

Nick nodded. “Cute kids. I saw them at the beach on Level Five. Fished the girl out of the water, in fact.”

“Paolo and Gianna, eight and three Terra Standard years old,” Mara said, breathing hard as the trio of would-be rescuers ran past a series of wide-open cabin portals. “You rescued her? The parents were asking about you, but no one knew where you’d gone, or who you were. They thought you were SMT crew –”

Suddenly Nick felt a chill across the back of his neck. He stopped, putting out a hand to halt his companions. “Feel the breeze?”

“Hull breach.” Khevan watched impassively as some of the lighter debris on the deck stirred and began drifting down the hall in the direction they were going, moving in fits and starts as the outgoing drafts eddied.

“But we have to get the Nadenofts out –” Mara swiveled her head, staring at one man, then the other. “Come on, we’re so close to the trapped children. I’ll go on by myself, if you’ve changed your minds –”

“How much further?” Nick said, urgently.
Time’s running out now
.
 

She checked the golden numerals above the cabin door gaping open beside him. “We’re almost there. Five more cabins to go, around the curve ahead.”

Nick nodded and gestured for her to proceed. “Let’s move, but if the airflow gets much stronger, we risk getting blown out into space without an LB.”

Mara bit her lip against an instinctive protest, apparently content he and Khevan still intended to pursue the rescue mission.

“I wonder the blast doors have not closed already,” the D’nvannae commented as they hurried along. He coughed sporadically from the dust now visibly drifting through the corridor. “Should they not have been triggered by any loss of air pressure, no matter how slight?”

“Yeah, well, this ship has more than a few things not up to code,” Nick said. “Whoa!” He threw out his arm, stopping Mara as they came around the curve of the corridor.

Ahead of him was a tangled mess of ceiling panels, dangling circuitry, and other debris. The bulkhead was indented at a sharp angle, as if something had tried to batter its way into the ship from the outside. The once-beautiful panels of wooden veneer were splintered and shredded along the corridor, some missing entirely. Beyond, within the damage perimeter itself, there were no lights, other than a few sparking panels.

The wind picked up.

“It wasn’t like this when I left a few minutes ago, not this bad. I mean, the corridor wall was banged up, but everything else was fine,” Mara said, hand at her throat. “Lords of Space!”

“I thought something had gone wrong with the damn engines on this bucket again, like last night, only more serious.” Nick gestured at the debris field. “From this mess, I’d guess we hit something. And if you’re telling me the collateral damage happened since you came this way, I have to assume the
Dream
’s structural integrity is in jeopardy, on this level at least.”

“Truly,” Khevan agreed, staring at the obstacles in their path, assessing the probabilities. “If we weren’t safely in Sector Sixteen, I’d say the
Dream
had been attacked.”

“Yeah,” Nick nodded grimly. “But not in this Sector.” He touched Mara’s elbow to get her attention. “How much further? I’m not sure we can work our way through much of the debris barehanded.” He pointed at the dangerous maze ahead.

Mara held up her scratched hands. “I know. This happened to me as I was trying to force my way into their cabin, and it wasn’t half as much of a tangle then. Tools would help, but I don’t know where there are any.” She pointed down the corridor at a cabin a little way into the debris field. “See the door there, just past the first set of fallen ceiling panels? It’s their cabin, the Nadenofts’.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to wait here?” Nick asked.

She shook her head emphatically.
 

“Let’s go then.”
Determined lady. I’m not wasting breath and time arguing with her.
 

The trio moved forward cautiously, Nick and Khevan shoving aside what debris they could and holding the dangling circuitry gingerly out of the way for Mara to pass. As they worked their way past the first cabin door inside the damaged area of the corridor, a loud thumping startled them all. Eyeing the door to his left, Nick paused.

“I thought you said the children were a few more doors down?” he said.
Maybe this isn’t going to be so hard after all.

Mara was shaking her head, frowning in puzzlement. “This isn’t the Nadenoft cabin. I don’t know whose it is.”

Nick nodded to Khevan. “Well, whoever is in there appears to be just as trapped. Auxiliary power to the door circuits must be out on this level. See anything we can use as a lever? We’ll have to pry the damn panel open to get them out.”

The Brother searched through the mess in the corridor. Mara hung back, biting her lip and glancing down the hall, where the children were waiting for help to come. Nick put his mouth close to the jammed door and shouted, “Hang on, we’ll have you out of there in a minute.”

Khevan brought over a long metal bar he’d wrenched loose from some fallen strut work. Nick eyed it appreciatively. “That’ll be fine.”

Working as rapidly as they could, the men inserted the end of the flat bar into the tiny open space where the door had opened marginally. Using all their combined strength, they managed to force the portal open about halfway. A man literally fell out into the corridor on his knees, scrabbling to get away.

Nick and Khevan exchanged puzzled glances. The Brother moved aside, keeping the pry bar. Extending his hand, Nick tried to help the person they’d rescued rise to his feet. The passenger yelped and lunged to a standing position, avoiding Nick’s outstretched hand. Giving the three of them a horrified glance, he ran away, lurching from side to side of the corridor as he went.

“I thought I knew all the passengers in my vicinity, at least to say hello to, but I’ve never seen that guy before,” Mara said. “What’s on the deck by your foot?”

Bending over, Nick retrieved the glittering item. It was a diamond clip earring in the shape of an ornate flower.
Worth a lot of credits, even without its partner
. He eyed it for a second, then threw it into the cabin the mystery man had been released from.
 

“Guess we helped a looter get away with his haul, or part of it, anyway,” Nick said, nodding toward the direction the thief had fled. Here and there, other pieces of expensive jewelry gleamed on the carpet, having dropped from the man’s grasp as he stumbled away in panic.

“Well, I don’t care about him, or whatever he stole,” Mara answered, taking cautious steps into the obstructed passageway. “I’m glad he isn’t trapped any longer, but what I care about is those children. Are you coming?”

Luckily, the entrance to the cabin they sought was only a few yards farther inside the debris field. It took another long minute to reach the Nadenofts’ jammed door.

Nick heard the faint, discordant sound of wind whispering across the edges of the portal. He exchanged grim glances with Khevan. Mara ignored them, leaning close to the opening. “Paolo, it’s me, Mara. I’ve brought some friends to help get you and your mother and sister out, okay?”

“Okay.” The reply came from deep in the darkness, a trembling child’s voice.
 

Trying to be brave
. “I wish I had my blaster.” Nick put his hands on the edge of the door and yanked at it. “Be quicker to burn the damn thing down.”

Khevan positioned the makeshift pry bar against the jammed panel. Nick grabbed hold above the Brother’s hands, and the two men strained and tugged.
 

“It’s moving. I definitely saw it slide an inch or two,” Mara reported. “There, it’s going now!”

The door suddenly released completely, and the two men half fell into the cabin. Mara shoved past them, stumbling over them in her haste, calling to the children.

“Paolo? Gianna, where are you, sweeties?”

“In here, with Mommy. In our bedroom. She’s on the floor. I think she’s sleeping a while now,” the high-pitched voice, choked with repressed sobs, said from the darkness.

The three adults exchanged glances in the gloom of the main cabin. Taking a cautious step backward, Nick slapped at the lights, locating the panel next to the door by touch. Not too surprisingly, nothing happened. The breeze was stronger now, rushing faster through the open portal and going in the same direction they needed to move, toward the dressing area and the other bedroom, on the outer hull of the ship. “Let’s get this done.”
 

“We need to see,” Mara said.

“There’s an emergency pack in the corridor, about five yards the other direction,” Nick recalled. “Can you go get it?”

She was already gone as he finished the question, returning in a few moments, holding a feebly burning hand lamp to guide her steps and extending a second one to Nick. “I think the power’s depleted, although how, with the ship being new –”

Nick took it. “Worry about it later. Complain to SMT in writing, maybe. Let’s get these people out while there’s any light at all and the hull’s holding.”

He moved by the flickering, pale illumination of the hand lamps to the entryway into the dressing area, which was blocked by debris. As he played the light over the daunting obstacle, Nick realized the bulkhead had partially caved in. Trying to assess the integrity of the stateroom’s ceiling, he shone the beam upward. The view was not reassuring – visible stress fractures ran through the exposed struts.

The lamp flickered out.

Giving it a sharp whack on the side brought a slight intensification in the light. Khevan aimed the stronger beam from his lamp onto the one Nick was holding.