"Fail-Safe" (Part 6)

The Moon Station Series Episode 28.6

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February 12, 2051

Engines hummed and overhead lights turned on and off as motion sensors detected the engineers’ and guard’s movements and illuminated their areas accordingly. Colton and Albert stayed close together while they attached the fail-safe mechanisms to inactive engines and then integrated their systems. Duy moved between them, his eyes scanning the massive room and tracking the other engineers.

Morgan passed very close to the engine Colton was working on, carrying another fail-safe at an awkward angle.

Duy touched Colton’s arm in warning, and he stepped back just in time to avoid getting hit by it.

“Oops!”

Colton couldn’t see Morgan’s face through the visor of his protective suit, but he guessed the other engineer was smirking. CLACK. Colton finished connecting the mechanism to the engine, integrated it, then moved to the next engine on Albert’s other side.

Duy moved beside him, the guard’s eyes following Morgan now. The engines muffled his already-lowered voice. “Do you think he has something planned?”

“I don’t know.” Colton risked a glance in Morgan’s direction. He seemed to be connecting the fail-safe. “Has Alex messaged?”

“No.”

At breakfast, Alex had pointed out that whoever was after Albert and Colton might pull something on them during the fail-safe installation when everyone was distracted by the engines. Now the pilot was waiting in a corridor near the entrance to the station’s second level, watching for engineers not assigned to the project. If one appeared, Alex would warn Duy, then move to intercept.

Claire had grimly suggested he watch for anyone headed for the second level. She was currently in the operators’ section, guarding Topaz while she checked Morgan’s CID.

“Close!” Morgan moved toward them. “We’re supposed to go to storage and pick up the backup systems for the fail-safes.”

Albert faced him. “What backup systems?”

“The ones I helped build last night.” Morgan’s tone suggested he was pleased with himself. “While Close and the guard were playing around, and you were…doing whatever you were doing.”

“Backups for the backups?” Albert sounded like he was smiling. “Are the fail-safes expected to work as well as you?”

Morgan sputtered.

Duy looked at the engineer’s sleeve. “Let me see the message you received.”

Morgan stepped back. “Why?”

“Because your CID sent a message you claim you didn’t send. I’m making sure you aren’t claiming to receive a message your comms system didn’t. If that bothers you, we can discuss it with the temporary station head.”

Grumbling, Morgan shoved his arm at the guard, lifting the flap on his sleeve to reveal the comms system’s screen. “There. See?”

“From Major Barr.” Duy’s eyes narrowed. “Engineer Close, did you get a message from—”

Colton’s comms system buzzed with an incoming message, and he checked it. “Just now—he says if I’m wondering whether Morgan’s message was real, he’s sending one to me.” His stomach tightened worse than usual. He couldn’t believe what he was about to suggest. “Maybe we should go to his office first, and confirm in person that he actually sent it.”

Morgan folded his arms, but before he could protest, Duy turned to Colton. “I’ll go with you.”

“No, stay with Engineer Burke. I’ll be all right.” Alex is upstairs. He hoped Duy remembered that. He didn’t want to say it in front of Morgan.

Duy must have remembered, because he let the matter rest.

Albert had also been told Alex was watching. Even so, he glanced at Colton with what was probably a worried expression.

Colton fell in behind Morgan, and the two made their way out of the engine room and up the stairs to the main level. They entered the corridor where Alex was casually leaning against a wall, typing on his CID. Duy had probably messaged him about what was going on.

Morgan ignored the pilot and kept walking. Alex put his CID away and followed.

Morgan glanced back. “What are you doing?”

“Walking. I hear it’s a good use of the legs.”

“Why are you following us?”

“Who says I’m following you? You know I have more important things to do than wait to see if the cat tries to scratch you again, right?”

Morgan growled.

Colton smiled.

They passed one of the hatch doors to the station’s main storage area, and Morgan stopped beside it. “We’re already here. Why not”—something clattered farther down the corridor.

“Wait.” Colton touched his arm, and Morgan jerked away. “What was that?”

“I’ll go see.” Alex drew his pistol. “You two stay here—and call for backup.”

Colton nodded and typed a quick message to Claire as Alex moved through the corridor, disappearing around a corner.

Morgan huffed. “Well, he can handle it, can’t he?” He turned back to the door.

Colton took several steps in the direction Alex had gone, straining his ears for any sound up ahead. “Morgan, we better not go anywhere until we know what’s going on.”

Morgan snorted. “Are you scared some rebel’s—Close!”

Colton whirled.

An incendiary exploded between them. Flames lashed the air, flicking smoke and scattering sparks. Several landed on Colton’s suit, but its material self-extinguished almost immediately. He caught a glimpse of Morgan through the smoky haze, and his blood chilled.

The engineer stood as if transfixed, and Colton didn’t blame him—his suit was on fire, and it wasn’t self-extinguishing.

“Morgan! Drop and roll!” Colton darted around the incendiary. Grabbing the engineer’s wrist, he jerked him into a safer area and pushed him to the floor, shoving him into a roll that smothered the flames. He crouched to check Morgan for injuries.

“C-Close…”

“It’s going to be okay.” Movement made him look up. Another engineer watched them from farther up the corridor, his face shielded by the visor of his protective suit. He sprinted away.

Colton sprang after him. “Stop!” Pulling back the flap on his own suit, Colton sent a voice message to Duy. “Rebel in protective suit, in corridor between storage, med, and staircase. I’m pursuing. Morgan possibly injured near storage.” He dropped the flap and concentrated on running.

The rebel was nowhere in sight.

He turned past medical and headed for the staircase. Maybe the rebel was running to the engine room where he could blend in with the other engineers in protective suits. Or maybe—arms like steel wrapped around his torso, pinning his own limbs to his sides and jerking him to a halt. His breath froze in his lungs. Before he could react, a familiar voice said, “I’ve got him, Close.”

“Duy, it’s me!”

“Close?” Duy let him go and moved to yank his visor up. “Dang it.”

Colton took off, and Duy’s footsteps echoed behind him until the guard pulled up on his left. They were halfway through the corridor that led to the operators’ quarters when Alex appeared in front of them. “Duy messaged me…” The pilot let his breath out. “If the rebel came down this way, I missed him.”

“Hold on.” Colton sprinted back toward medical, grinding to a halt a little up the corridor from it, in front of a trash incinerator. He tugged off one of his gloves, extending his hand above its opening. Heat wafted across his fingertips, and he pulled back. “This was used recently.”

Alex’s jaw tightened. “You think he destroyed his suit?”

Colton nodded. “And then he probably ran to the rec area where he could blend in.” He tried not to let his shoulders droop. Right now, he felt like crying.

“Shoot.” Duy spoke through his teeth. “If I hadn’t slowed you down…”

“It’s not your fault.” Colton turned to him. “You were told to look out for someone in a protective suit. And even if you hadn’t stopped me, I didn’t know he wasn’t wearing it anymore. I might have run right past him in his regular uniform.”

“I might have passed him when I went through the rec area,” Alex muttered.

“Close…” Morgan staggered toward them without his suit, Barr, Claire, and Brigadier General Gonzalez behind him. The major carried a fire extinguisher.

Colton remembered the incendiary. Oh no.

“Engineer Close.” Major Barr clipped the extinguisher to his belt. “Engineer Morgan says you saved his life.”

I what? “Sir, a rebel threw an incendiary at us—”

“Morgan messaged me about it.” Barr cut him off. “I had to use the temporary station head’s fire extinguisher to put it out.”

Alex stepped forward, his expression neutral as he faced the major. “They were in that corridor because you messaged them to get something out of storage. Funny how the rebel knew where to find them.”

No, Alex, please! Don’t even imply he’s—

Barr looked at Gonzalez. “Teach your subordinates to respect their superiors.”

“Duly noted, Major.” Gonzalez turned to Alex. “He didn’t send any messages. He’s been in my office since the installation started.”

“So, someone faked messages from his CID?”

Claire spoke. “It’s possible whoever tampered with the operators’ switchboards and computers last night also found a way into Major Barr’s CID. The operators had to remove and reinstall their operating systems, but they set aside one workstation with its current OS so they could check it.

“A little while ago, they found the line of code responsible for our communications failing and the slots opening. The OS corrupted itself a few seconds later.”

“So, there’s nothing else to find.” The general turned to Morgan. “Report to medical for full testing. Engineer Close’s response saved you from burns, but we don’t know whether the incendiary released toxic chemicals.”

His eyes moved to Colton. “You do the same. If you are cleared, you can finish the installation. Major, you and I will bring your CID to the operators.” He turned and left, the obviously irritated major following.

Claire gave Colton a sympathetic look from behind Morgan, then turned to follow the division heads.

Alex moved closer to him. “I’ll go with you.”

Duy nodded. “I’ll see you later.”

Alex entered medical first, then gestured to the other two. Morgan moved automatically, and Colton followed. Henry had two examination tables prepared—Colton guessed he’d checked Morgan for burns, then left to set them up.

Colton turned to Alex. “What was the noise in the corridor earlier?”

“All I found was a wrench. I think the rebel threw it, then looped back through the rec area to get to you guys while I was gone. Which means he must have either known I was with you, or expected you’d have someone guarding you.”

Colton shook his head. “Duy’s guarded Albert and me in engineering. I doubt there’s anyone who doesn’t know we’re being protected.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Hours later, Henry glanced up from his fifth inventory of the day to find Alex, Claire, Topaz, Bugguffin, and Colton making their way toward Autumn’s office. He checked his CID. The cameras, microphones, and motion detectors Dr. Burke and he had carefully hidden throughout the bay were still active. Pocketing his device, he moved to join his friends.

Alex knocked on the division head’s door, and she let them in and gestured to chairs arranged on one side of her desk. She took her seat as they settled into theirs, Claire on the far left, then Topaz, Alex, Colton, and Henry. Bugguffin rubbed her face against Henry’s boots, then sniffed a path to Claire’s lap.

Autumn’s gaze moved between all of them. “The general updated me. The operators think a switchboard—probably the one with the compromised OS—was used to send the message from Barr’s CID.” She glanced at her computer, then back at the group. “And the three of us received new orders. We’re to have another transport carrier mission tomorrow.”

“So close to the other one?” Alex frowned. “Does someone know something we don’t?”

“The general and major were discussing that earlier—whether something’s about to happen that we aren’t being made aware of, and what we can do about it.

“After Morgan’s suit was tampered with so it wouldn’t protect against fire, the major wants everything in the main storage and engineering’s storage to be checked for new damages, and he wants all the space suits and hazmat suits throughout the station to be checked. We’ll all be busy tomorrow helping with that, on top of everything else. So tonight, all of you try to get as much sleep as you can.

“Colton, I had Dr. Burke bring cameras, motion sensors, and microphones to the bay, and she and Henry installed them. If anyone leaves the bay, they’ll be recorded, and if they try to do anything to our supplies or rooms, the sensors will alert our CIDs. We won’t be taking any watches tonight. That’s all.” She turned to Topaz. “Did you finish checking Engineer Morgan’s CID?”

Topaz nodded. “I didn’t find anything on it either. We’re assuming the rebel simply stole it, sent the message, then hid it.”

“Then at least he didn’t leave malicious code on it. Thank you. And you mentioned earlier that you had something important to share.”

“Yep.” Topaz rose, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a few pieces of material—silicone, Henry thought. “Colton got these for Bugguffin.” She held them out to the engineer. “Given the day you’ve had, and considering you got them for her, you should be the one to test them out.”

“Thank you.” He accepted them, then glanced at Alex. “You said you just throw them?”

The pilot nodded, grinning.

Colton tossed the silicone pieces across the room. They deflected off a wall and bounced across the floor. Bugguffin sprang from Claire’s lap and chased after them, her rear wiggling right before she pounced, pinning them beneath her claws.

Colton’s face lit up with a smile.

Henry shook his head. “Why does she do that?”

Alex looked at him. “Do what?”

“That strange wiggle before she pounces.”

“Oh, that.” Alex grinned again. “That’s her pre-pounce calibration. The cat my uncle petsat did the same thing. It makes their pounces pouncier.”

Colton retrieved the silicone pieces from Bugguffin and handed them to Topaz. “Here, you throw them for her.” He resumed his seat.

Topaz winked at Claire. “Think we can tire her out enough we can trim her other claws?”

Claire smiled back. “Let’s find out.”

Autumn chuckled.

Topaz threw the silicone pieces, and Bugguffin scrabbled after them. Beside Henry, Colton relaxed, and the doctor felt his own shoulders drop as he sat with his friends, watching Bugguffin tear after the bouncing silicone. She looked like she was smiling.

Henry knew he’d miss her when she left on the transport carrier.

They took turns throwing the silicone for Bugguffin, even Autumn, and then when the cat tired of chasing the small objects and flopped on her side, they tried out a string attached to a stick.

Bugguffin seemed to like the string even better—maybe because she could pin it without having to get up.

Lazy cat. Henry smiled.

Thank you for reading “Fail-Safe” (Part 6). Read Part 1 of the next episode, “Galaxy Explorer,” here.

The previous installment in this series is “Fail-Safe” (Part 5). Read it here.

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