Accident on the Waterloo

The alarm klaxon in this section of the ship was abnormally loud. It made Zander's head feel like someone was peeling it open. Doing her best to ignore it she pushed off from the hatch and floated weightless down the corridor. Before she got to the other side the ship unexpectedly lurched, probably under maneuvering thrusters. She was slammed into the wall and pinned against it by the momentary acceleration. Pushing off again she struggled to make it to the next hatch. The engine coolant was slowly moving closer and the living quarters would become untenable soon. If she didn't free Vivian from her room, well...possible asphyxiation from another hull breach might be a better way to die.

Vivian was the first person she met when she woke up on the ship. Or rather came back to a semi-sober version of consciousness. Zander had opened her eyes into darkness reluctantly. There was a deep bass hum in the background she couldn't place and her body felt different. Heavier. The tight softness of a hammock surrounded her, but not her hammock. Not her room in Luna City she decided. She rolled to the side, lost her balance, and crashed to the floor. Hard.

"Easy there Sweetie." The voice had a deep feminine lilt to it. "Let yourself adapt to ship's gravity," the voice said sleepily.

Zander tried to talk but her mouth and throat felt like they were coated in wool.

A small light snapped on across from her, and she had seen another hammock strung up above her. A foot with dark painted nails slid over its edge, to be followed by a muscular calf. The toes wriggled and stretched.

"You're on the floor of my room, if that's what you just asked." A face had appeared at the other end of the hammock. Unnaturally bright blue eyes watched her in amusement. "Sorry, I guess I should say our room now. Hey, you don't look so good. The waste disposal unit's over there," the foot and toes pointed into the dark, "if you're going to be sick."

The blue eyes regarded her for a second and then the skin around them pinched together as the person smiled.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Zander rolled over on her back and tried to focus on a spot on the ceiling. "I'd finished a late shift in Luna City Food Court 7. Some of my friends dragged me to a party in one of the docking bays."

"Correct," the eyes agreed.

"Some dock tech pulled out a tub of homemade Vodka." Zander's thoughts were sluggish and took effort. "And I think I tried it?"

"You tried a LOT of it. Quite a bit, I imagine, even before my friends and I joined you."

"I...don't remember anything else." Zander had let out a weary sigh. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Vivian," the eyes answered patiently. The toes wriggled in a wave at her.

That was only a couple hours ago and now Zander was fighting her way through a ship she barely knew to try and save Vivian. She grabbed the manual hatch release to the access shaft and froze. The indicator displayed an X, glowing in a bright auto-luminescent red. There was hard vacuum on the other side of the hatch.

She knew that most ships this size were built with parallel access shafts on either side. Maybe she could cut across this deck and use the other tunnel. She reached for the nearest compartment hatch just as a power conduit blew near her. Sparks shot out, bouncing off her arm and hand. Some stuck and they burned into her skin before she could brush them off. Using the back of her other hand she tried to wipe away the tears of pain from her face. Zander was looking for a change, a little excitement, but this...none of this, was what she had imagined.

"You were quite talkative last night," Vivian had explained earlier that day. "Told us all about going to university, but you struggled in classes. Came to the moon with friends for Spring Break and decided to stay. Bounced between minimum wage jobs until you ended up making protein noodles in Food Court 7."

Zander remembered groaning in embarrassment.

"Oh, don't feel bad. You made it all sound very dramatic and entertaining," Vivian cooed in response. "Not at all whiny. And then you signed on as crew with the Waterloo."

"The what?" Zander had scanned her brain for any more memories of the previous night and came up empty.

"The Waterloo sweetie. This," Vivian's toes wriggled indicating the surrounding space. "You're aboard the commercial space vessel Waterloo."

"You mean we aren't on the moon? This isn't Luna City?" Zander had asked in a panic.

"No," Vivian's body slipped back into the hammock until just her eyes were visible again. "We left lunar orbit hours ago. We're under thrust for Mars. Our next performance is there."

"Wait, what kind of ship is this?" Zander asked.

"Why this is Moriarty's Magnificent Menagerie sweetie." Vivian's eyes had twinkled merrily. "Last night you joined the circus."

Evidently, Zander signed on as their new animal handler. She wondered if anyone bothered to mention the possibilities of freezing to death in space, asphyxiation, or radiation dangers when she'd signed up. Surveying the room she was now in, she was certain they hadn't explained what they meant by "animals" either.

Space was limited on a ship so large animals weren't an option. She also knew some species didn't adapt well to low gravity. The Menagerie apparently made do with the options that were left. A mix of frightened chirps, squeaks, and hoots assaulted her ears. The long room was filled with various containers, obviously specially designed, for their occupants. Most seemed secure but one had been dislodged and sat at an angle, its lid cracked open.

Slowly she surveyed the room. The container didn't have a label and Zander had no idea what type of creature might have been released. In the reduced light she was unable to spot anything stirring and cautiously started moving across the room.

The caress came first on the corner of her ear. And then across her right cheek. The featherlight touch of spider silk. It triggered in her an urge to get away. A reflex buried deep in her subconscious that moved faster than rational thought. She jerked back, brushing frantically at her face. In the zero g environment the reaction made her body spin wildly.

With effort, she managed to grab a handhold and stop spinning. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. On the list of current dangers, a spider really shouldn't be that high. Although, judging by the size of the container and the web Zander wasn't eager to learn how much of a danger it should be considered. Using the ceiling mounted hand holds she pulled herself across the rest of the room quickly.

On the far side, she found the last enclosure was filled with mice. Zander marveled for a moment at how, even in zero gravity, they were able to wedge themselves into the small plastic tunnels and continue to scurry about their business. She wondered for a second how mice were used in the show, until it dawned on her. They were food. Probably for Monty, the second thing she had met on the Waterloo.

Zander had been laying on Vivian's floor, eyes shut, trying to stop the world from spinning and to piece the previous night's events back together.

"This is a mis...eeeai!" The small scream slipped out unbidden as she opened her eyes. Two slitted eyes atop a small triangular head gazed at her from only a few inches away. A thin tongue flicked out repeatedly, tasting the air.

Pressing her hands against the floor, Zander tried to push away from the snake, but it was already on top of her. It seemed to watch her for several seconds before sliding its head down her shoulder and toward the floor.

Zander's heart skipped a few beats and her breathing stopped. She lay tense as nearly two meters of snake slid across her. Finally, it slipped off her body and she took a sharp inhale of air.

"That's Monty." Vivian was looking down at her from above again. "She must be curious about you. Normally it takes her longer to come out of hiding after a prolonged time in zero gravity."

"Let me guess, you're the snake charmer?" Zander asked softly as she tried to scoot her body further away from the snake.

"I can charm all kinds of things," Vivian had answered with a throaty chuckle. "But yes, Monty is part of my act. I think you were about to say something about this all being a mistake?"

"Yes." With effort Zander pushed herself into a sitting position. "This is a mistake. I need to get out of here."

"You'll want to talk to Zed then." Vivian's face disappeared back into the wrappings of the hammock, losing interest in the conversation.

"Zed is the Captain?"

"Captain. Pilot. Clown. Magician. Check the bridge. Out the hatch and to the left. Take the access tunnel all the way to the top."

And now Zander was struggling with the release on a similar access tunnel to go back down. At least this one, she noticed with relief, didn't have vacuum on the other side. However, as she pulled it open a chirping noise like an electronic cricket started. The sensor attached to her chest was indicating dangerous levels of radiation in the tunnel. The crew quarters were only two more levels down though. If she moved fast enough she should be alright. Unless that level's hatch was jammed. Or the level itself had already been flooded with radiation.

Refusing to think about the decision too long, Zander flung herself into the tunnel. She yanked her body painfully to a stop two levels down and struggled with the latch. Her skin felt like it was burning, but she realized that was probably her imagination. Probably.

With a final shove the hatch swung open and Zander scrambled through, sealing it shut behind her. She found Vivian's room and the auxiliary control panel outside. Desperately she tried to remember the instructions Zed had given her to free the door.

She argued with Zed for almost twenty minutes before he agreed to let her out of the contract. He was a short disagreeable man. Bald, unshaven, and missing one leg. Which in retrospect Zander could now understand since he lived on the Waterloo. He agreed to drop her off when they got to Mars, it wasn't like they could just turn the ship around Zed explained.

"What am I supposed to do then?" she had asked. "How am I supposed to get back home?"

"Not my problem. You did sign a contract after all."

The ship had shuddered before she could argue further. Alarms and flashing warning indicators filled the bridge. Zed shoved her aside and slid into the pilot's chair.

"Something hit us. Rock or piece of space junk. Blew right through the port deflector. We've got a hull breach." With an amazing sense of calm, Zed begun to check systems.

Electrical popping noises had come from a series of panels to her side before they went dark. The sensation of gravity ceased and Zander found herself slowly floating up.

"Port electrical relays just blew," Zed growled. "The fusion engines have tripped."

"Zed, need some help here." Zander recognized Vivian's voice on the intercom. "The door's jammed. I can't open it."

"Hang tight. I'll get someone down there," Zed had answered. He continued to manipulate controls and check screens until his shoulders slumped. "Oh hell."

"What? What is it?" Zander had asked.

Zed jerked around to look at her, as if he'd momentarily forgotten she existed. "We took more damage than I thought. Secondary coolant is leaking into the ship. Radiation is moving toward the crew compartments."

His frown grew and made Zed look more unpleasant to Zander. "You'll have to go down and get Vivian out," he'd said with unhappy resignation, turning back to the console.

"I can't do that. I'm not even supposed to be here!" The volume and pitch of Zander's voice increased as she spoke, sudden fear leaking through.

"There's no one else. Mustapha is trying to bring the engines back online and Percival is working on the hull breach. Unless you know how to fly an old Class D colony ship, you're all Vivian has."

Reluctantly she had agreed and Zed explained what she would need to do.

Which brought her here, one hand stuck inside the panel pumping up the manual hydraulic release. The metal in the hatch groaned under the strain. Then whatever misalignment was jamming it gave way and it sprang open with a metallic clang. Vivian was floating on the other side, one arm held against her body and a slight trickle of blood on the edge of her forehead.

"I hit my arm when the ship lurched," she explained. "I think the bone is broken."

Zander grabbed her by the front of her ship suit and pulled her carefully into the corridor.

"One access tunnel is open to space. The other is flooded with radiation," Zander quickly explained.

Vivian nodded down the corridor. "Third hatch. There's an emergency crawl way to the next level. The main computer core is there. It's the most heavily shielded part of the ship."

They started toward the hatch before Vivian grabbed her arm. "Wait! Monty." She looked at Zander with pleading eyes.

Zander exhaled, half in frustration and half in exhaustion. "Keep going. I'll get her."

She pulled herself back into the room and toward the corner the snake had retreated to earlier. Approaching with trepidation she peered under the cabinet that was set into the wall. Underneath she could see the snake, coiled up into a ball as it floated, trapped between the deck and the cabinet.

As she reached in the snake gave a menacing hiss, its mouth open in warning. "Easy Monty," Zander whispered. "Just be a nice snake and we'll be OK."

Zander closed her eyes and slowly moved her hand closer to the snake. Its tongue brushed against her and she tensed. Instead of a bite though, the snake started to wrap itself around her arm as it crawled toward her. Gently she retracted her arm with the now attached Monty. Hurrying, she headed back to where Vivian was waiting. She could feel the snake wrapping around her shoulders and torso but tried to ignore it.

Vivian was correct. Once through the crawl way and into the cramped computer core space they were protected. Whatever opinion Zander might have of the Waterloo itself, the efficiency of her crew couldn't be argued with. In short order they had the hull breach sealed and the contaminated areas flushed. They'd even managed to get the engines back online at low power, providing roughly lunar equivalent gravity.

A tall spindly man with shining white skin named Percival appeared and helped Vivian to their small medical bay. As he began treating her arm Zander noticed that she was watching her, a small smile raised one corner of her mouth. Looking down Zander realized that she was absently stroking Monty's smooth skin. The snake was still wrapped snugly around Zander with her head tucked into an arm pit for warmth.

Vivian brushed Percival aside and stepped over to Zander. She wrapped one arm around her in a tight embrace.

"That's for saving Monty. This is for saving me." She lifted Zander's chin and kissed her fully on the mouth. Zander could sense the blood rushing to her cheeks as Vivian returned to Percival's silent manipulations.

"We should be OK now," Zed announced from the door. "Backups are all online and a Navy patrol vessel is coming to check on us, just in case. It'll take us a little longer to reach Mars at this speed, but we'll get there."

Zed glanced at Zander. "Don't worry. We'll find you a spot on a ship heading back to Earth and back home."

Zander looked over at Vivian, who was watching her with twinkling eyes. Even Percival stopped what he was doing and gazed at her silently. Zander looked down at the snake wrapped around her and slid her hand down its body lightly before looking up at Zed.

"No, that won't be necessary. I think I’m going to stay."

Zed looked from face to face in confusion. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. After all, I did sign a contract."