Captain’s Orders

Month 11 Day 3

1030 Hours

Smitty

 Send Harris! Harris isn’t ready to do such a job. It’s not something you can just turn over to any engineer. It takes a light touch to make sure the gravity units stay balanced. Wilson could handle it, but she’s asleep right now.

Smitty left the lift and headed for the brig. I wonder... Maybe the suggestion was a tacit effort to let me avoid Colleen? In this case, it won’t work. It’s not fair to wake up Wilson just because I don’t want to see a particular person. I just won’t look at her. Or talk to her. She knows I don’t approve of her fighting, so not talking to her shouldn’t be too hard to do. I’ll just go in, put this in the bed, and then leave again. Nothing to it.

I hope.

There were 2 guards at the door to the brig. They both moved to stop him, but it was Ingersol who spoke. “Sorry, sir, no visitors allowed at this time.”

“I’m not a visitor, I’ve come to put variable gravity on the bed, so the prisoner can sleep.”

The 2 guards looked at each other. “Well, it’s been suggested that we keep men away from her until she’s calmed down.”

“You’ve been given a suggestion, you say. But I have orders from the captain to get this installed.”

“Well, perhaps Harris or one of the other female engineers--“

Again with the ‘let Harris do it’! “Harris is busy, and in any case isn’t trained on how to do it. There’s very few people who can do a proper job with variable gravity. Otherwise, it would be available everywhere. Any other questions, Ensign?”

“No, sir.”

Smitty walked in and straight over to the command post, where Ensign Hernandez stood watch. “Okay, Ensign, I’m here to make modifications to the prisoner’s bed. Open up and let me in.”

“I’m sorry, sir, Lt Tall Bear gave me orders not to let men in.”

“And I have orders from the captain to get this done. Do you want to call the captain and confirm that with her?”

“No, sir, I’ll let you in.”

“Good.” He walked toward the cell, extremely aware that Colleen was standing in front of the bed, her green eyes large as she watched him approach. With only a few feet between him and the force field, she and her blanket skittered to the farthest corner. It rather looked like she was trying to press herself into as small a package as she could, or possibly through the wall and into the next holding cell. Smitty pulled his gaze away from her as the force field crackled shut behind him and got to work on the bed.

“Mr Smythe, what are you doing?”

He looked up to see Beth standing near Colleen, her hand lightly resting on the girl’s shoulder. “Adding variable gravity to the bed,” he answered, and returned to his work. “Captain’s orders.”

“Oh.” He could hear Beth whispering to Colleen, trying to keep her calm. “He’s just going to be here for a few minutes, Mac. Just take some deep breaths... He won’t be here long. Take another deep breath. You’re doing well.”

Smitty stopped listening, concentrated on getting done as quickly as possible. And of course, the unit didn’t want to cooperate. It took him far longer to get things installed than it should have, but eventually he stood up. “Okay. Computer, activate gravity on holding cell 1 bed to Gaelund standard.” He held a hand over the bed, felt it being pulled just a little more than normal. “Okay, I’m done.” Without any conscious direction, his gaze wandered over to Beth and Colleen. Mostly Colleen. “I could have let you do it yourself, but regulations say that a prisoner cannot make adjustments to her holding cell.” Green eyes got even larger, if that was possible, but otherwise, she made no response. “Okay, ensign, let me out.”

The force field crackled, he stepped out, and the field crackled once more. He stepped over to the security command board, and toggled a connection to the captain. “Smitty to Capt Burke.”

“Yes, Smitty.”

“The modification to the bed in holding cell 1 has been completed.”

“Thank you, Smitty. Burke out.”

“You lay down and try to sleep,” Beth told the redhead. “I’ll be here if you need me.” She turned to face the force field, her hands full of scraps of material. “Hernandez, let me out, please.” In a moment, she was out, walking toward the table at the side.

“What’s that?” Smitty asked, indicating the cloth remnants Beth carried.

“Mac’s uniform,” Beth answered. “What’s left of it.”

“They had just gotten her changed when you walked in,” Hernandez stated softly.

If I’d been just a minute earlier. Well, that would have been embarrassing. Although, I assume the field on her cell would have been fuzzed so that nothing really could have been seen. He finally looked at the other 2 holding cells, realized there were no other prisoners. “Where’s her opponent?”

“Still in sick bay,” Beth told him, as she sorted the cloth into various piles. “I understand she managed to knock him out.”

Smitty sighed and muttered, “I told her to keep her temper under control.” He turned to leave.

“Mr Smythe!” Temple called after him. He turned to face her, and she went on. “If you are thinking this was a one-sided fight, I would like to disabuse you of that notion. It was a mutual endeavor, each trying to get the other to do something they didn’t want to do. If you could see Mac’s bruises, you’d see she took quite a beating. I only hope she gave as good as she got.” She turned back to her work. “Hernandez, I think that’s part of her uniform shorts, not the tunic.”

Smitty, chastised, turned back for the door, then took a good look at the one piece of Colleen he could see; her face. One eye socket was beginning to darken, and the opposite cheek was already bruised. Her upper lip was torn. It had definitely not been a one-sided fight. And then he saw the glistening of tears before she rolled over and faced the wall.

Shakened, Smitty stepped into the hall and turned to face Ingersol. “I suppose Winthrop is investigating what happened?”

“Sir, Winthrop is in sick bay. Tall Bear is conducting the investigation.”

Smitty nodded slowly and headed back to engineering, feeling sick to his stomach. Mac’s opponent is in sick bay. Winthrop is in sick bay. Tall Bear is conducting the investigation, which implies that Winthrop is either incapacitated or... or involved in the mayhem. And if Winthrop is involved...

He found himself disagreeing with Beth. If Winthrop was involved, then he hoped Colleen had inflicted far worse than what she had endured.

Finding the Proof & Aftereffects

Finding the Proof

Month 11 Day 3

1020 Hours

Lt Tall Bear

There were 2 guards outside Quarters 42 of deck 4; one at each door. Tall Bear carried a large kit, which he sat down outside the bedroom door, where the captain had stopped. “Document everything,” the captain instructed him. “This could easily become a case of ‘he said, she said,’ so we need to be able to reconstruct what happened when. The fact that a book was under a computer screen may be important. So document everything before you move anything, and again every time you move some thing.”

“Yes, captain,” he agreed. “That’s how we were taught to do it.”

She hesitated and then sighed. “Look at me, trying to tell you how to do your job. Do we know which side of the bedroom is MacDowell’s?”

“I can figure it out,” he returned. “She’s the only person with variable gravity on her bed.”

“That’s right, she is. Well, as soon as you get the bedroom documented, send a fresh uniform down to the brig for her. And then, as soon as you get the living room thoroughly documented, inform fabrication so they can get in and fix things.”

“Yes, Captain.”

She hesitated half a moment. “I haven’t seen the living room. Any of it, really. But I get the idea that all sorts of things were tossed about, knocked to the floor and so on. Would that include the computers?”

“The computers were smashed up pretty badly.”

“Then when you are done, also inform Oakhurst. It’s my understanding MacDowell had several projects she had her computer working on, and I haven’t heard that she had finished any of them. See what Oakhurst can save for her.”

“She’ll appreciate that, captain.”

“Well, you know what you need to do, so I’ll let you do it.” She started to turn away, then turned back again. “Let me know when you’re done, too. So I know if I need to find temporary quarters for MacDowell’s roommate.”

“Captain, you’ll be the first to know,” he promised. As the captain moved away, he opened the kit and pulled out the hologram recorder and its tripod.

Ingersol opened the bedroom door, and they looked inside. Both beds were made, everything looked to be in place. “Doesn’t look like the fight got this far,” Ingersol stated.

“I agree, it doesn’t look like it.” Tall Bear stepped to the middle of the room and set up the recorder, then stepped back out of the room and gave the command for the machine to record. Afterwards, he took a careful look around, to make sure nothing had actually been tossed around. It still didn’t look like any part of the fight had progressed to this room. “Okay, I guess we can take a fresh uniform to Mac. Computer,” he started, but Ingersol stepped over to one of the closets and took out a uniform without hesitation. “How do you know that’s Mac’s uniform?”

“Because I know which side of the bedroom is Della’s.” Ingersol grinned.

Tall Bear grunted, then opened a couple drawers, found underwear for Mac, which he handed the other man. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice, she’s going to need a full set of clothes.” He found a pair of pantyhose and added those to what the man held. “Okay, go ahead. Give those to one of the ladies to give to Mac. Mac is still plenty upset.”

“One of the-- Zhang is still active? She works C shift.”

“That’s right. Relieve her when you get there. Tell her I may need her to work a 12-hour shift when she reports this evening. Depends how long we hold Mac. Now, get going.”

As Ingersol left, Tall Bear took the hologram recorder into the living room and set it up. This room was a complete mess, with broken shards of computer screens, broken chairs and desks. Even the sofa was out of place. If it were up to me, I’d let her go as soon as she calmed down. On the other hand, after what she’s been through, and considering her upbringing, that could take a while.

 

 

Aftereffects

Month 11 Day 3

1030 Hours

Capt Jane Burke

 Jane entered her office from the hallway and paused next to Blossom’s tiny desk. “Blossom, I need to talk to the ship’s tailor, fabrication, and Smitty in engineering.”

“Yes, captain.”

Jane proceeded to her desk and sat down. This is where other captains would probably turn the details over to someone else, perhaps their yeoman. Why do I feel the need to handle things myself? Is it just because I’m a woman, and I think I can imagine what MacDowell is going through? Or do I feel some guilt for not having found some way to get rid of Winthrop long before this? Maybe some of both. I’ve been afraid something like this would happen eventually, and I didn’t even know he was using a black market drug.

“Captain, the ship’s tailor is on line 1,” Blossom announced.

Jane hit the button, and Lt Postern’s face appeared on her computer screen. “Lieutenant, I need a rush job on a Class C and a Class D uniform for Lt MacDowell.”

The older man frowned and mumbled the name a couple times before he could recognize who that was. “Captain, I haven’t started the new uniforms for lieutenants yet.” That much was obvious, because he wasn’t wearing a new uniform himself.

“I don’t care. Do these uniforms for this lieutenant, and put a rush on it. When you get them done, track her down and give them to her directly. Any questions?”

“She’ll look out of place. And she hasn’t got the seniority to be the first lieutenant in new uniforms.”

“Never-the-less, one of her C uniforms has been damaged beyond repair, and it doesn’t make sense for you to make her a replacement of the old design.”

“Beyond repair?” Postern sighed. “Very well, I’ll get right on it.”

“Fabrication on line 2,” Blossom said.

Jane punched the button, and Lt Eckleson replaced Postern on her computer screen. “Yes, captain?”

“Deck 4, Quarters 42 has sustained substantial damage,” she told him. “As soon as Security is done gathering evidence, you’ll need to get in there and put it back together. But I want it to look different.”

“Different, captain?”

“Yes, different. It seems one of the occupants was attacked in that quarters, and I don’t want her to have to come back to something that looks the same. Move the furniture, use a different color scheme, put some kind of pattern on the sofa. Make it so she isn’t reminded of that attack every time she enters. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Mr Smythe is on line one.”

“Smitty, I need a variable gravity field placed on the bed in one of the brig cells.”

“What in space for?” Must have caught him by surprise.

“Well, as best I can figure, this the time she would normally be sleeping.”

All the color drained from Smitty’s face. “Oh, no.” he shook his head sadly. “I told her to keep that temper in check.”

Yes, he immediately assumes she’s guilty. “We don’t know that she initiated the altercation,” Jane told him. “But the other party is in sick bay, so she’s in the brig at least until all the evidence is gathered.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “All right, Captain. I’ll get on it right away.”

“Send the Harris woman,” Jane suggested. “MacDowell might appreciate seeing a friendly face. Burke out.” She broke the connection and sat back. Is that all? Is there anything else to be done? I can’t think of anything else. 4 hours to get that drug out of Winthrop’s blood. And then I shouldn’t intrude into the interview. That’s up to Tall Bear.

Overdose

Month 11 Day 3

0910 Hours

Jane Burke

When Jane approached sick bay, she saw Tall Bear coming from the other direction, saw that he stopped to tug a boot into place and pull his uniform tunic down from being bunched around his waist. He’s normally asleep this shift. “Captain,” he greeted her. “We’ve had to break up a fight between 2 crew members. Commander Winthrop is in sick bay. I’ve had Lt MacDowell taken to the brig.”

She nodded her acknowledgement. “I’m sorry you were awakened, but if Winthrop was involved, you pretty much had to take over the investigation. Abdulla said it sounded like a brawl. Do you have any idea what started it?”

“Not at this time. All I know is it took all of us to try to get them separated, without any success, before Winthrop was knocked unconscious. And MacDowell will need a replacement uniform. The one she was wearing was pretty... well... shredded.”

“What about Winthrop’s attire?”

If he was surprised by the question, he didn’t show it. “Disheveled.”

“Well, let’s go see what the doctor can tell us, if anything. Or if Winthrop has regained consciousness.” They walked in together. They entered the sick bay lobby and then the exam room, where the unconscious Winthrop was strapped into the exam table. 2 security guards stood nearby.

“He’s still unconscious, sirs,” one of the guards reported, and added, “MacDowell must pack quite a wallop.”

“She can,” Tall Bear confirmed. “I was surprised she didn’t end the fight long before we got there. Take your positions in the lobby.”

“I wonder where Dr MacGregor is?” Jane asked.

“Of all the stupid, idiotic things a man could do to himself!” Duck declared as he stormed into the exam room from the labs further back. He calmed down upon seeing the newcomers. “Don’t get too close to him, J- Captain. Your rank won’t mean anything to him if he wakes up.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s under the influence of a drug commonly called ‘doit’. And I use the common name because its chemical name is about 6 meters long and I can’t even pronounce it. It’s supposed to be a sex enhancer.”

“You didn’t know he was taking it?” she asked in surprise.

“If I had, I would have turned him in. It’s black market stuff. It was approved for medical use several years ago, but over time, it proved to be accumulative with each use. And addictive from the very beginning. Eventually, and now we’re into the theory of what happens when a man continues to use it, the man overdoses and loses all control. He attacks his chosen prey like an animal and won’t stop until he’s finally satisfied, which could take hours.” He turned his attention to Tall Bear. “I commend your people for being able to knock him out and get him here.”

“That wasn’t us,” TB stated. “That was MacDowell. I think. I still need to figure out exactly what happened. But we were just trying to separate them.”

“Since he’s not going to ‘get satisfied’ this time, how long before the drug wears off?” Jane asked.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t find any information in the papers, only theories and speculation. And those were based on very little scientific evidence.”

“Well, detox him, then.”

“That’s one thing I did find mentioned in the papers. Detox has no effect on doit users.”

“You said it was accumulative. You’ve hinted that this wasn’t his first time using it. Why haven’t you noticed it in his system before this?”

“Because between doses, it lies dormant in the fatty tissues and isn’t noticeable. That’s why it took so long to discover that it is accumulative.”

“There must be some way you can counteract the drug, get it out of his system.”

“There’s no known counteracting drug. If there was one, the lab could make some. So I’m stuck trying to remove it, which may or may not work. I’m going to try dialysis. It’s an old-fashioned method of scrubbing toxins and other chemicals out of the blood. The technicians are pulling the old machine out of mothballs and getting it ready to use, but the procedure will take time. At least 4 hours. And I can’t guarantee the drug -at least some of it - won’t go dormant and reside in the fatty tissue even after dialysis is done.”

“But if he doesn’t get any more doses of it, does that matter?”

“I don’t know. Like all addictive drugs, the more times they take it, the more frequently they take it. He probably has a supply of it somewhere.”

“We’ll keep an eye open when we search his quarters,” Bear stated somberly.

“And the papers did include one case where the patient no longer had access to doit, but what was in his system went undormant, uh, became active, again.”

“That doesn’t sound like a lot of information,” Jane remarked.

“That’s all I’ve got to work with, Jane. Papers full of anecdotes and theories but scarce of actual facts. When it was shown to be addictive and accumulative, it was pulled from the shelves, and nobody had the freedom to conduct any more studies on how bad it could get.” A technician came in from the labs with a 2-foot cube of a machine on a rolling table. “Here’s the dialysis machine. Let me get to work.”

“Keep me—both of us—apprised of your progress,” Jane told him. “And Tall Bear will need to interview him as soon as he’s able.” Then she and Tall Bear turned and left.

A Security Emergency

Month 11, Day 3

0833 Hours

Abdulla

It was not at all unusual that Abdullah had a song stuck in her head this morning. She thought she had heard this particular song at the New Year’s Eve dance, because it seemed to be a waltz, not the kind of music she usually listened to at all. But all thoughts of music were swept away when she heard, “Security to deck 4 for an unknown problem.”

“Captain, security is sending a team to deck 4,” she reported, oblivious that she had interrupted a conversation between the captain and Takor. “No indication what the problem is yet.”

“Very well. Keep me apprised of their progress, lieutenant.”

She knew that deck 4 was not a huge deck. There was a briefing room and a few junior officer quarters. Abdulla started listening to various microphones scattered around the deck, whether they were turned on or not.

Silence.

Silence.

“She’ll come to her senses. It’s only a matter of...”

Silence. Snoring. Silence. Footsteps. Silence.

“I thought maybe the blue scarf...”

Silence. Silence. Silence.

“Get out!” A frantic cry, followed by a loud thud. Mac’s voice, frantic and panicky.

“You bitch, you’ve wanted this for a long time.”

Startled, Abdulla made note of the quarters with that altercation, then quickly checked all the rest of the microphones, which were devoid of any sounds that might require security. She opened the security channel. “Security, check quarters 42 on deck 4.”

“We’re there,” someone answered, and she heard a door sliding open and a crash before the channel went dead.

“42? That’s Mac’s quarters,” Capac stated.

“Any idea what the problem is, Abdulla?” the captain asked.

“It sounded like a fight, captain,” she stated reluctantly, not wanting to spread unsubstantiated rumors.

Capac shook his head. “Bugalu should know better than to push her when she’s irritable.”

“No, it didn’t sound like an argument with Bug- uh, Bugalu.” Not just an argument. And definitely not with Bugsy!

The lights suddenly brightened 3 times in rapid succession, followed by 3 quick blares of the alarm. “All security hands, Deck 4, quarters 42. All security personnel, Deck 4, quarters 42!”

The captain turned in her seat and frowned. “That sounds like more than just a simple argument,” she stated.

Any fight somebody stupidly started with Mac should have been ended almost before it started. She is a heavy worlder, and has the muscles to show for it. Abdullah tried to listen to the microphone in quarters 42, but it wasn’t responding. There was another in the hallway a few feet away from quarters 42, and from there, she could hear grunting, thuds and even some furniture breaking. It sounded like a bar brawl. And Mac’s voice, yelling at someone to leave her alone, to keep their hands off her. And then another voice saying, “Man Down!”

Tall Bear’s voice loudly said: “Everybody stop!” When the noise quieted down, he went on. “Hernandez, Zhang, get Mac a blanket so she can cover herself, and then stand guard on her. All the men, stand on the other side of the room.”

“Bear, you’ve seen what she’s done to Winthrop!” someone objected.

Winthrop! That’s the voice I heard speaking so ugly to Mac! If he wasn’t afraid of hurting her - and it didn’t sound like he cared - his combat skills might have negated Mac’s strength.

“I saw that the 2 of them were in an all-out fight. And none of us could make either of them stop until Winthrop was knocked out. From what Mac was screaming, she was in a panic, thought she had to protect herself from rape. That’s why I’ve assigned her female guards and given her a blanket to cover herself. Now, we have to figure out exactly what happened.”

“Lieutenant, do you have any idea who MacDowell might be... arguing with?” The captain was as curious as anyone.

“I’m afraid it was--“ She stopped to listen to security channel chatter for a moment. “They’ve called for a medical team.”

More concerned now, the captain nodded in acknowledgement. “Who did it sound like? When you heard what was happening?”

“It was Commander Winthrop. The medical team was for him.”

Captain sighed. “Okay.”

“Just a moment.” She caught a brief exchange between Tall Bear and sick bay. “Now they’ve called for Nurse Temple. Apparently, Mac- MacDowell is in some kind of panicked frenzy and won’t let anyone but women get close to her. Tall Bear’s making arrangements for them to take her to a holding cell.”

“And Winthrop?”

“I assume he’ll be taken to sick bay. She seems to have knocked him out.”

“Very well. Takor, you have the bridge. I’ll be in sick bay, and then the brig.” Abdulla wished she could go with her, to find out exactly what had happened. Instead, she was stuck on the bridge, listening to any security channel chatter than might happen, but that didn’t seem likely.

Since this was Bugalu’s day off, maybe he’d know what had happened and all the juicy details by the end of shift. Or, if she was lucky, by lunch time.

And this stupid waltz kept playing in her head, completely out of touch with the world around her. She knew Winthrop’s reputation, had heard stories about young women on the ship and the way he’d treated them. She’d even been subjected to his leering and lewd suggestions. But nobody - that she knew of - had ever tried to fight him off before.