No Rest For The Weary (The Last Time Traveler Book 2) Read online

  Minutes after this conversation, the navigational data they needed was uploaded into the ship's computer and the band was flying through non-space toward their destination. Vox and Robert wasted no time, and began working on the video equipment they needed immediately. Once again, the traveler decided to power the system using a Dorvient crystal, simply because he didn't want an electrical failure to blow the mission.

  Fortunately, they had learned a good bit from building the Delmont Bomb and modifying the immunization probe. As a result, they figured they'd have it ready around the time they got there. They were right. It took them just under nine-hours to get a Dorvient crystal based power system banged together for the portable video system they planned to use. They would still need to record the message after they arrived but, as the traveler had set up a recording studio on the ship years before, that wasn't going to be a problem.

  Vox and Robert made their way to the bridge mere minutes before the ship was due to drop back into real-space. They found Morgan and Celeste engrossed in conversation, apparently discussing the team's previous missions. The expression on her face as they entered the chamber was one of obvious displeasure.

  “So, this Kalask,” she said, shifting her glaring gaze from the traveler to her husband. “Is that how you say it?”

  “Yeah,” Morgan nodded with a smile. “That's right.”

  “This Kalask,” she continued, “ripped through Doc's armor and into his side.”

  “It did.”

  “And Doc killed it because Rob was out of ammunition and Vox couldn't shoot because Doc was under it?”

  “Right,” he nodded excitedly.

  “Rob,” she said, turning her glare back to him. “What would you have done if Doc hadn't killed it?”

  “Celeste,” he replied with a wide smile and cheerful tone. “Doc's a professional, he knows what...”

  “Like you do?” she snapped. “Because, it seems to me you should have brought more ammunition with you.”

  “Well, I...” he began.

  “No!” she interrupted. “I take that back, Rob. What you should have done was not have gone! What is wrong with you?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Are you trying to get Vox killed?! What would you have done if he had been?! What would you have told me?!”

  “Honestly, baby...” Vox began.

  “No!” she replied, shaking her head. “No, I don't want to talk to you right now. You've been running around the universe behind my back for years, risking your life doing who knows what, without even having the decency to tell me.”

  “He didn't want to worry you,” Robert explained.

  “Well, I'm worried now!”

  “Really, Celeste,” Morgan replied, “it was just a matter of bad luck.”

  “Bad luck?!”

  “Well, yeah,” he nodded. “Cleo missed her first shot, which would have killed the thing stone dead, and I didn't know how to cock her crossbow. If I had...”

  “Look, Morgan,” she sighed. “I understand that you're trying to make me feel better. And, you're only... wait, how old are you?”

  “Twenty-two.”

  “Right. It's hard to tell because, apparently, Rob is hundreds of years old and Vox is... wait, how old are you?”

  “It depends on how you look at it,” Vox explained.

  “How many years have you lived?” she snapped.

  “I don't know,” he said, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I'm probably really eighty or ninety now.”

  “Mmmm,” the traveler said, rocking his head from side to side. “I'd say more like a hundred. Still, I admit, I haven't really been paying attention.”

  “Well, either way, you two should both be old enough to know better than this! Vox, a man just doesn't take a job where he's risking his life on a regular basis without talking to his wife about it first!”

  “I had the job before we got married,” he said defensively.

  “Then, you should have mentioned it before you asked me to marry you!”

  “You're right,” he admitted. “And, I'm sorry. But you know now, baby. And you're going to be able to see for yourself that these missions generally aren't dangerous at all. The next time I'm considering doing anything even remotely dangerous, I intend to talk it over with you first. Okay?”

  “It's a good start,” she said, obviously still not happy, but pleased with her husband's apparent contrition.

  “This job's going to be a textbook example of not dangerous,” Robert assured her with a chuckle.

  He then pushed all of the required buttons to bring the ship back into real-space. The moment it appeared, the ship was struck in the side by a massive asteroid. The impact threw the four companions around the bridge like paper bags filled with meat, and drove the ship directly into the path of another giant rock flying in the opposite direction. The second strike spun the front of the craft directly toward a smaller, but much faster moving, projectile.

  A number of alarms began ringing through the cabin, as countless lights sprang to life on the consoles. The ship's power failed and, for fractions of a second, so did the shields. The smaller asteroid hit the windshield of the ship with such force that the future glass shattered; sending shards of the super hardened material flying into the interior of the ship. Almost instantly, the shields came back online - running on emergency power - before the ship was struck several more times. Fortunately, the force of these impacts pushed the vessel out of immediate danger.

  Morgan crawled to his feet, blood running down his face, and glanced around the cabin. Robert was already pulling himself up, Celeste was on the floor apparently unconscious, and Vox was lying in a quickly growing pool of his own blood. As soon as the traveler was on his feet, he grabbed his giant friend and began trying to roll him over with his right hand.

  “Help me, Morgan!” he snapped. “I think my left arm is broken!”

  The young man quickly obeyed. The pair rolled Vox over on his back to find a shard of glass sticking out of his neck. Instinctively Morgan reached out to pull it from the wound.

  “Don't, you idiot!” the traveler yelled, slapping his hand away. “Are you trying to make sure he dies?!”

  “No, I...”

  “Shut up!” Robert barked, hitting the intercom as he spoke. “Doc! It's bad! Vox is bleeding out, bro!”

  “Look, Rob.”

  “Just wait, Morgan!” he said, staring down at his badly wounded friend. “I have to think! Run down to the medi-bay and grab an emergency kit!”

  “Doc...”

  “Doc may be dead! I didn't hear him reply, did you?! Now go!”

  “Right,” the young man said before pelting down the corridor.

  Fortunately, Doc wasn't dead, although one of his wings did seem to be badly broken, and he was bleeding from a number of small wounds when Morgan encountered him dashing toward the bridge.

  “Grab another medi-kit!” he yelled as he ran past the young man. “We may need more than one!”

  The young man dashed into the medi-bay, grabbed an emergency medical kit and flew back to the bridge. Doc, was bent over Vox working with a number of tools while Robert stood, staring down at his friend's face, his eyes filled with concern.

  “Find the girls!” the traveler exclaimed as soon as Morgan stepped into the chamber.

  The young man flew from the bridge heading toward the young ladies' rooms. He hadn't gone far when he encountered the pair making their way slowly toward the medi-bay. Cleo had her arm wrapped around Azure and was walking with one leg. Azure had purple blood running down her face from a cut on her forehead and seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

  “Are you two alright?” he asked as soon as he reached them.

  “Yes, Morgan!” Cleo exclaimed. “We're great! In fact, we were just looking for you and Rob to see if you wanted to go out dancing tonight!”

  “Right,” he replied, slipping his arm around her and lifting her gently from the floor. “Stupid question. What I actually meant was: I'm glad to see you two are alive.”

  “I'm sorry,” Cleo sighed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “I guess having a broken shin puts me in a bad mood.”

  “It would me,” he replied with a slight smile. “Azure, how are you holding up?”

  “I'm fine,” she said, with a grimace. “That is to say: I think several of my ribs are broken, but I'll live.”

  “Let's get you two to the medi-bay,” he said, turning to head that direction.

  “Thanks for coming to get us,” the blue maiden replied. “What happened?”

  “We were hit by several giant asteroids.”

  “That's not possible,” Cleo said.

  “I was standing on the bridge at the time,” he explained. “I saw it happen.”

  “Well, I can't understand it,” she replied. “The charts should have kept us well out of the path of any asteroids and the ship shouldn't have dropped into real-space that close to another object.”

  “Apparently, somebody made a mistake,” Azure asserted.

  “I don't see how” Cleo replied. “All the data we get from the island is checked a number of times before it's handed off to us. The same mistake would have had to have been repeated a dozen times or more. How could that even be possible?”

  “That's a good question,” Morgan said. “But, I have a more immediate question.”

  “What's that?” she asked.

  “If the power to the ship is down, why aren't we floating around?”

  “Morgan,” Cleo sighed. “You amaze me sometimes.”

  “Why?”

  “Your almost ceaseless curiosity.”

  “Oh, that,” he nodded.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “the ship's running on emergency power until we can get the engines back online. That means we'll have minimal shields, a minimal cloak, gravity, and emergency medical until the power dies.”

  “How long have we got before that happens?”

  “Probably a year or so,” she replied. “And, even if we only had a few hours, there wouldn't be anything to worry about - barring more asteroids, of course. I'm sure Rob and Vox will have something rigged up real quick.”

  “I wouldn't count on that at the moment.”

  “Why is that?” the green maiden asked, a note of concern in her voice.

  The young man explained the current situation to the young ladies as he carried one and escorted the other to the medi-bay. As soon as he had them as comfortable as he could get them for the time being, he made his way back to the bridge.

  “He's stable for the moment,” Doc said, standing as he spoke, “but he's lost a lot of blood and is in a severe state of shock. Of course, I can use Celeste as a donor for a transfusion if she's not too injured, but I'm certain he has a number of serious internal injuries.”

  “How much time has he got?” Robert asked.

  “If I can do the transfusion, maybe two hours,” he sighed. “If not, less than an hour I'm sure.”

  “Can't we just drop him in the regenerator?” Morgan asked.

  “No,” Doc answered. “However, I think your real question was: Can't we just use the equipment in the medi-bay to heal him?”

  “It was.”

  “We could,” Robert replied, “if we had the power. But we don't right now. Not even if we dropped the shields, the cloak, and turned off the gravity generator. Plus, we only have a few hours of emergency power left.”

  “Cleo said we had a year!”

  “We would,” the traveler replied, shaking his head, “had I remembered to restructure the Calphin crystal the system runs on after me and Vox's little Lost in Space adventure.”

  “So, you didn't...” Doc began with a tone of disbelief.

  “I had a lot going on, Doc,” he replied. “As soon as we got back, I found out that Cleo had left and Brother had just gotten some information on Morgan he wanted me to look at.”

  “Still...”

  “I know!” Robert exclaimed. “That jerk was right! I am an irresponsible jackass!”

  “Well, yes,” Doc agreed. “At least, you are at times. But, that's not our present concern. At the moment, we need to come up with a very quick solution.”

  “The Dorvient power crystal!” Morgan exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “We can go get it out of the immunization probe, or even just take the one out of the video equipment.”

  “Brilliant idea,” the traveler replied. “But, it won't work.”

  “Why not?” the young man asked incredulously. “If the backup system uses Calphin crystals...”

  “They are very different,” Robert explained. “Calphin crystals provide a low level of power that you basically have to coax out of them, Dorvient crystals are constantly blowing out power and you have to throttle it back. Still, the idea really is brilliant and I think I'll setup a secondary backup based on that concept eventually. It could give us full power for a limited amount of time. Either way, we can't do that right now.”

  “Well, what can we do right now?”

  “We need to get a generator.”

  “From where?”

  “Well,” the traveler replied. “As we can't move the ship and only have two hours tops, I would suggest here. Doc, can you set my arm please? And, we'll need you to patch up that cut on Morgan's forehead.”

  “Absolutely.”

  Doc immediately gave Robert a shot in the arm... quite literally... before quickly setting his broken arm.

  “Thanks, Doc,” the traveler said, slowly moving his fingers.

  “You’d better get a splint on that.”

  “I will,” he nodded. “Morgan, where are the girls? I take it they're alright since you didn't fly onto the bridge screaming.”

  “They're in the medi-bay,” the young man replied, as Doc quickly attended his minor wound. “Cleo has a broken shin, and Azure may have a few broken ribs.”

  “Then, let's get these two back there with them,” the traveler said. “Doc, you'll have to carry Vox. Morgan, do you think you can carry Celeste?”

  “I know I can,” the young man replied, before squatting down and lifting her from the floor.

  The trio made their way to the medi-bay, carrying their two patients along with them. A quick check revealed that Celeste had a concussion and some mild internal injuries, but that she would be fine - provided they all survived. Doc began work on the blood transfusion immediately, as Robert explained about the power situation to the girls as quickly as he could. By the time he finished, they both completely supported his I am an irresponsible jackass theory.

  Robert, along with a little help from Morgan, bound his left arm in a brace before the pair dashed down to the armory. Both of them threw on suits of cloth-armor, as well as belts equipped with shield and stealth generators. The traveler then introduced the young man to a new type of weapon. It was a high capacity tranq-bullpup that held a hundred darts in a single magazine. They each armed themselves with one of these and two extra magazines before running for the car.

  “Why isn't the car smashed up?” the young man asked as soon as they stepped into the bay.

  “When it's parked, it's magnetized to the hull,” the traveler explained as he jumped into the driver's seat. “If the ship exploded, it probably wouldn't move more than an inch or so.”

  As soon as Morgan was buckled in, Robert pushed a series of buttons that raised the top on the car before opening the bottom of the bay. The vehicle drifted out into space and the traveler fired up the engines, heading for the planet below.

  “Doesn't the car generate a lot of power?” Morgan asked, as they dodged one asteroid after another.

  “Loads.”

  “Then, why don't we just tie it into the ship?”

  “Another brilliant idea! But, we can't do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Okay,” Robert sighed, jerking the car out of the path of another flying rock. “We can do that once we have the time. We just haven't done it yet. It's not like we can just hook it up with a pair of jumper cables. You ever try to run a TV off an alternator?”

  “A what?”

  “Forget it,” he replied, shaking his head. “The point is that we don't have time for that now.”

  “Man...” Morgan said thoughtfully. “You really aren't very prepared are you?”

  “Look, bro,” the traveler replied defensively, “in spite of what I may have said in the past about all the random elements...”

  “Like swag mad pirates randomly popping into existence,” the young man interjected.

  “Exactly,” Robert confessed. “The fact is that, as a general rule, I know where everything and everyone is going to be when I go into a situation. The only big unexpected thing I've ever run into was that time the engines got fried and it took us a year fix 'em. We had enough emergency power to keep things running through that. That asteroid should not have been there. We should not be in this mess. Up until this point, I honestly believed that nothing like this would ever - no, actually, could ever - happen.”

  “Looks like Doctor Sturm was right - about that much, anyway.”

  “We'll see,” the traveler replied. “At the moment, that doesn't make any difference, though. Right now, we need to save Vox. Once that's done, we're going to do a lot more in the be prepared department. This has taught me one thing, for sure.”

  “What's that?”

  “Always expect the unexpected.”

  “I agree,” Morgan nodded. “So, how are we going to find what we're looking for?”

  “Like this,” Robert replied, pressing a few buttons on the console.

  One of car's displays was immediately filled by an interactive menu. The traveler pushed a few more buttons, and then the screen displayed a map with several dots of various colors on it.

  “What is that?” the young man asked.

  “Well, I'm not totally irresponsible,” the traveler explained. “The ship keeps the car updated with information about the nearest planets around our target date and location. This works kind of like a GPS that will show you where restaurants or gas stations are in a town you've never been in. Right now, it's showing us where we can get emergency power.”

  “Awesome!”

  “It is,” Robert sighed. “But, your question does underline even more of my irresponsibility.”