Ships in the Night

Station Eureka Warp 2, 50 million light years away from anywhere. Captain Galileo, also known as Bob is looking through the telescope. His second in command, Martha heaves a sigh. 

‘There is nothing out there in the way of intelligent life.’ 

‘Nothing in here for me either.’ 

‘Well I don’t stare down a long, cylindrical, metal tube pretending.’ 

Bob turns his attention to Martha. She had once shared a home with Stewart, but left him for what she thought would be a wild adventure into outer space. Bob found her to be insufferable, but she could rattle up some food, which he found very unnerving. Half the cans were past the Used By date. All the dried pellets of fibre somehow managed to become some recognizable food from the past.  

‘Haven’t you got something better to do than harass me.’ 

‘More company with a dead chicken than you Bob.’ 

Sliding off the seat elegantly Martha moved silently out of the room. Only the swish of the air being released from the sliding doors was heard. 

Captain Galileo was meant to be in charge so why he wondered, couldn’t he get Martha to do what a team member should?  

It had not occurred to him that Martha was the only other crew member on board the Station Eureka. Martha was his equivalent to his intellect. The robots had been left to their own devices on a previous planet to collect data. There was a problem with Station Eureka’s navigation equipment. He decided as Captain that he wasn’t going to tell Martha. 

Martha worked out her coordinates in her head and realised that there should have been stars in the distance by the speed at which they had been travelling. They had spent twenty-one earth days going around in a circle. They had not seen a celestial body of light for seven-hundred days. There had been a meeting with one terrestrial creature; well Bob said it was. Martha thought it was probably a piece of space junk they bumped into.  

Martha sprinkled a dusty sachet into a metal mug and pushed a button for steam. 

‘Ah,’ she sighed tasting the cappuccino coffee. For Martha coffee was the cure. Suddenly the space ship gave a fierce jolt as she took a sip and spilt some of the precious liquid. 

‘Ouch! What the heck. Silly twit’, she muttered. ‘Couldn’t reverse a pickup truck in an empty car park.’ 

‘I could too. That’s insubordination. Just stop being . . .’ Searching for the right word, he gave up. ‘I don’t need your help after all,’ storming out the room. 

Martha, being a woman of perception, interpreted this to mean that he did need her assistance and proceeded to follow him to the command room. 

‘We’ve being going around in circles,’ she announced. 

‘Well you have never been direct.’ 

‘I mean Station Eureka,’ giving a deep sigh of irritation.  

‘We’ll be there soon so no need to get . . .’ 

‘Look we are. We’ve been going around. We'll be at the centre of this imagined circle soon.’ 

‘Alright, the navigating system is stuffed.’ 

‘So that’s it. When were you going to tell me?’ 

‘When I fixed it. 

‘Ha.’ 

‘Have some faith. I’ll send a message to the robots to cease operation and connect the pod to ours. It’s simple.’ 

Captain Galileo felt proud of this brainwave idea that he had. He could think well under stress. It was this woman who annoyed him and yet he had to admit he loved it when she pushed him to his limits. He knew that somewhere deep down he did have some feelings for her, but he could never tell her. He was sure she would see it as a sign of weakness.  

Sitting at the bridge of the command centre he gave the order to contact the robot pod.  

‘Ugh why can’t you do that Bob. I just want my coffee.’ 

‘Because I am Captain Galileo.’ 

Pulling a face behind his back she made a call to the little station out in the deepest part of Outer space where man has never seen. It took thirty seconds for a reply. 

‘We hear you,’ came a computer recording. We are not available to take your call, but leave your number and we will contact as soon as we are able.’ 

There were a great number of swear words from Bob. He really did wonder if he was being taken seriously by the robots. Putting the autopilot onto voice message was a serious offence in Space Law. If it was proven that they were playing ping pong, which they had been caught practicing on one occasion there would be serious consequences. 

‘Well Captain what do we do now?’ 

‘Keep trying to make that call and I will take another look at the electronics. There may be another answer. Just keep trying.’   

Martha kept trying to make contact. There was a lot of static noise, but no voice at the other end. Lying down on the ground there was a lot of grunting and cussing from Bob. He had seen a loose wire and started soldering it. Just maybe this was the cause. He then took two red hose pipes and reconnected them to a green one.  

‘Have you touched these wires at all Martha?’ 

‘It’s Lieutenant you know, and no I have not touched the wires. I only do as I am told.’ 

‘Name an instance where you’ve done what you’ve been told to do. You’ve gone all quiet Martha . . .  

‘I’ll have you . . .ah . . .’ 

There was a massive juddering sound. Station Eureka shook and Martha lost her footing and went flying back landing on top of Bob. Suddenly the Station Eureka was on Warp 5.  Bob was astounded. 

‘It’s never gone this fast.’ 

‘Lift your leg a little Martha, I’ve got cramp.’ 

Martha smiled. It was the least she could do, and probably the closest she would ever get to Bob. 

‘How long have those wires been disconnected? We haven’t been at Warp 4 since the robots were sent to collect . . . data.’ 

‘Bob, I mean Captain Galileo do you think it was the robots that did this.’ 

‘Well why aren’t they answering and yes we are able to go in a straight line now. I don’t like surprises like this.’ 

‘Oh, I thought you were enjoying the motion of a fast ride.’ 

‘Personally, I like it long and slow,’ he smiled. 

‘You little devil Captain Galileo. I thought you were all shy on me.’ 

‘I’ll let you call me Bob . . .’ 

There was silence for a moment as they zoomed along at Warp 5 and past several stars.  

‘Is that frost on the outside Martha?’ 

‘Before you climb out to check it, you might like to take my pulse.’ 

Caught in a deep embrace, a radio message can be heard of robots calling mother ship. Bob and Martha ignore it.