Tech Scavengers [Humorous, Action-Packed Space Opera]

Gorge rose in Negasi's throat as he stared at the desiccated corpses. They sat slumped in chairs or lying on the floor in what had once been a break room. One pair lay intertwined on a sofa. They wore Imperium government jumpsuits, their bodies withered and deflated inside them. There had been nothing in the sterile atmosphere of the ship to consume their flesh, so they had dried out to become mummies.

Negasi counted a dozen in all, a little less than the standard crew size for this class of ship.

"Look," Jeridan whispered. "They all have cups."

Negasi had been so focused on the bodies he hadn't noticed that each held a cup clutched in their withered hands, or a cup lay on the floor nearby.

"They poisoned themselves," Jeridan said. "When the food ran out, they poisoned themselves rather than starve to death."

"Rest in peace, crewmates," Negasi whispered.

They left and together they headed for the bridge.

What they saw there made Negasi wince.

The pilot and copilot sat in their seats, a cup on the armrest between them.

"They died at their posts," Negasi said.

They stood there for a second, then Negasi shook himself.

"Let's get what we came for."

Negasi got under the console, having to ease past the dead copilot. He opened up a panel and found the long-life battery they had installed for the distress beacon. The readout said 55% power even after all these years.

They powered down the rest of the ship. Maybe they used up all their power helping the refugee camp.

Jeridan plugged his own portable power supply in. The console hummed to life. Jeridan stuck a connection into the console and looked at his tablet and his face lit up.

"The computer isn't corrupted. The files are all here!"

"Perfect. We'll find out a lot."

Negasi and Jeridan looked at each other and grinned.

"Our biggest score yet, bro."

"We have a bigger one coming up."

They gave each other a high five, then cast a guilty look at the two corpses.

"Sorry," Negasi told them. "But we're going to fix what killed you."

At least I hope so, or pretty soon we're going to be dead too.

It took some time to download all the data from the ship's computer. As Jeridan worked on that, Negasi searched the bridge and didn't find much of interest except a portable tablet much like Jeridan's, although an Imperium model would be orders of magnitude better. He put it in a large satchel he had brought along.

"I'm going to look for goodies," Negasi said.

"Good idea. But don't take too long. Nova is going to get impatient. She's right that we need to hurry to the station."

"I hate it when she's right," Negasi grumbled, and went off to explore the ship.

He worked his way from prow to stern, using his portable power supply to open doors that had been shut for three hundred years. He found the medical station. Everything was gone, even the computer. Negasi cursed. If he had found that, he might have rediscovered cures for countless diseases. Next he found some crew's quarters, pocketing a couple of tablets as well as some odd electronic objects he couldn't identify.

Then he found the armory.

Bingo.

It wasn't very big, this being an engineering vessel, and the racks had been all but stripped, although he did find one rifle of a make he had never seen in the records as well as a box of what he knew to be explosives. He strapped the rifle to his back and loaded the explosives into his satchel.

He emerged from the ship again, blinking in the harsh light of the semidesert. Nova was wandering around near the ship, while Poopsie stood on guard nearby. Aurora was digging in the sand in front of the airlock.

She had cleared off a sizeable area, revealing the remains of a structure of corrugated steel as well as several tables and what looked like a medical examination room.

"You're quite the archaeologist. How did you get through this so fast?"

"Poopsie has been helped me clear away the top layer of sand," she replied, struggling with a metal plate that was still half buried.

"Find anything valuable?"

"A lot of empty food and medicine boxes. This was the relief station they set up for the refugees from the city. How about you?"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"A ton of stuff. We'll have to come back later for more."

"Mom says this will be nothing compared to the station," the girl said, still struggling. Negasi thought of offering to help but she didn't like help unless she asked for it.

"I hope so."

Or we'll all be in serious trouble.

With a grunt, Aurora finally pulled the metal sheet out of the sand. She staggered back, righted herself, and stared at the bent metal sheet.

"What?" Negasi asked.

She turned it around so he could see.

On it, in Galactic Standard English, were painted the words, "Help is Here!"

Negasi stared at it a second.

"Damn," he whispered.

Jeridan came out of the airlock, his tablet and power supply tucked under his arm. When he saw the sign, he stopped short.

"Damn."

"You guys done?" Nova called, walking over.

"Yeah. There's a ton more we could scavenge but I guess we'll need all the storage space we can get once we arrive at the station."

Nova passed by her daughter, ignoring the sign, and went up to Negasi.

"That's an interesting rifle. I've never seen one like that."

"Neither have I, and I've studied all the records of Imperium military gear. It's a powered weapon. I'll power it up and put it through some tests."

Nova nodded with approval. "Good. That might come in handy."

"I got all the data off the ship's computer," Jeridan said.

"Excellent! So even if the computers on the station are corrupted, we have a fighting chance."

"Let's go," Jeridan said.

"Wait." Negasi used his power supply to close the airlock again and reattached the plate. If they did return here, he wanted everything to be in as pristine state as when they found it.

They all headed for the shuttle. Aurora brought along the sign.

"We don't need that," Nova told her.

"I want it."

Nova only shook her head.

No one said much on the flight back. Jeridan sent a status update to the S'ouzz and received no reply, which was hardly surprising. Once they docked, Jeridan, Negasi, and Nova headed for the bridge to take them to the edge of the solar system before the astronavigator could get them to light speed again.

"What about that asteroid cluster between this system and the station? Are we going to have to drop out of light speed?" Negasi asked Nova.

"Yes, it's one of the densest extrasolar asteroid fields I've ever seen."

"Would it be quicker to go around it?" Jeridan asked.

"No. It's pretty wide."

"We're going around it anyway," Jeridan said. "I don't want to get into some area of space where hidden nasties can leap out at us."

"I don't think—"

"We're going around," Jeridan said.

"I agree," Negasi said.

Nova muttered something and fell silent.

Negasi wondered just how much they could push this woman who had been so accustomed to command.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Negasi was in the workshop testing out the rifle he had found on the Brunel. He had powered it up and identified the safety, which he kept on. The trigger was obvious but there was a setting switch that was only marked "1, 2, 3."

He couldn't scan the interior. The gun's casing was an extra dense alloy of durasteel that resisted any scanning device they had on the Antikythera. An archaeology department at a university would have something to see through it. He wished the folks from the Karnak were still here.

From the amount of power he had to put in this thing to get the power gauge to 100%, he was thinking it would pack a hell of a punch.

Aurora walked into the room, carrying the sign she had scavenged from the refugee camp on the planet.

"So what does that gun do?" she asked.

"I'm afraid to test it. It's got so much power I might punch a hole through a bulkhead."

"Test it the next time we're on a planet."

"Is your space fever better?"

"Yeah, sometimes I need a breath of real air and some open sky. Wish it had been on a nicer planet, though."

She clanged the sign down on a worktable.

"Here, you're always bragging about how strong you are. Can you hammer this flat for me?"

"All right."

Negasi got a hammer and smacked on the bent corner. The sound echoed loudly off the metal walls of the workroom.

"You going to put this in your room?" he shouted over the din.

"Nope. I'm going to weld it to the side of the ship."

Negasi looked from her to the sign and back to her again.

"Kid, that's is an awesome idea," he said as he finished hammering the corner flat.

"I'm not a kid."

"It's still an awesome idea. Let's get suited up."

"I can do it myself."

"And you will. But I want to see it."

Aurora smiled.

They toted the sign to the airlock, suited up, and went outside.

The ship was surrounded by stars. The sun for this system was now only a bright dot behind and below them. The planet they had explored was a fainter dot near it. Ahead was the small disc of one of the system's gas giants.

"Isn't this enough wide-open space for you?" Negasi said, taking a deep breath inside the safe confines of his helmet. He loved floating outside a ship flying beyond orbit.

"No fresh air," Aurora replied.

"How do you know? Take off your helmet and take a breath."

"Very funny. Where should we put it?"

"On the port side, maybe right behind the ship's name."

"Yeah! There's a flat space there."

They hit the thrusters on their spacesuits and went over the top of the Antikythera. The S'ouzz had already darkened the dome over astronavigation.

"You think it's lonely?" Aurora asked.

"Yes and no. Its species are all loners. I'm sure it hates being locally extinct, though. Getting so close to the S'ouzz home world really shook it up."

"Poor thing."

They slowed down as they approached the spot they had decided on.

"Do you miss not hanging out with kids your age?"

"You know how teachers always say there's no such thing as a stupid question?"

"Yeah."

"They're wrong."

"Sorry."

"It's all right," Aurora sighed.

"Maybe when all this is done you can move to a planet somewhere and have a normal life."

When Aurora didn't answer, Negasi asked, "What kind of planet would you like to live on?"

Aurora paused for a moment as they approached the port side of the ship.

"Some place with forests and a beach. And horses. I want to ride a horse down a beach."

"That sounds fun. Here we are."

They hovered next to a flat portion of armor plating right behind where the ship's name had been painted. Aurora moved over to it and secured the sign with some magnetic clamps. Negasi floated behind her and watched as she fired up the welder, which was a special model that ejected flame and a jet of air fast enough to work in a vacuum. It had a recoil, so the girl had to fire her thrusters to keep herself from flying away from the ship.

She balanced the two forces perfectly, and remained motionless in space as she welded the sign onto the side of the ship. Then she switched off the welder and floated back to join Negasi.

"What do you think?" she asked.

Negasi looked at the sign. "Help is Here!"

It took him a moment to answer.

"We're going to make that sign true again," he said quietly, "and once we've saved the galaxy, we're going to hunt for a planet with forests, beaches, and horses."

"Promise?"

The word came out so desperate, so pleading, Negasi was suddenly reminded how young she was. It was easy to forget when she was so intelligent and trained.

But she was still a kid, and she needed what kids need.

He reached out and held her hand.

"I promise."