Platform 28

By Andrew Walker

A bored starship docking bay operator's shift is turned upside down when he receives a visit from a wizard and a demon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew Walker
• Release date: Mar 24, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452311944

Andrew Walker

 Andrew T. Walker (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of Christian ethics and public theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and an associate dean in the School of Theology. He is a fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and managing editor of WORLD Opinions. He resides with his wife and three daughters in Louisville, Kentucky. 

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Platform 28

By Andrew Walker

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 Andrew Walker

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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For Daniel, who gave me more joy than he will ever know

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Part I

Chapter 1

Danny sighed as he slipped into his workstation chair. It was a little short for his two meter frame, but after a moment it rose a few centimeters to accommodate him. Another day of so-called work at Platform 28 had begun, and Danny sighed, envisioning a day just as exciting as all the previous ones. He ran a hand through his short, black hair, sighing at his own reflection on one of the displays in front of him.

The area’s designation wasn’t really Platform 28; that was just the name those who worked there gave it. Any documentation—memos, requisitions, etc.— labeled it Docking Bay P20/RA/X6F.1C. The last part indicated it was the twenty-eighth bay in the one hundred eleventh group.

It was on the current outer shell of Uphanopia, an artificially constructed world in a relatively remote part of the Lactian Galaxy, known to some as the Milky Way. This world was divided into phases (P20 meant it was the thirty-second phase outwards from the center), and each phase consisted of ten rings. Each of the first nine rings, working outwards, had two hundred levels.

The tenth ring was open space, carefully designed to look like the surface of a green world, complete with hills, lakes, rivers, and even well-maintained fields growing any one of a number of crops. Each of these rings had a roof which also served as the lowermost floor for the next outward phase. Platform 28 sat on the outermost complete phase. Construction began on Phase 33 before 32 finished, but construction was not close to the docking bay’s area, so it had the X in its designation to indicate it sat on the outer shell of Phase 32.

Eventually, Level 0 of Ring 0 of Phase 33 would be built over Platform 28, and it would likely be converted to some other use. It stood out from the shell of P20/RA, and was a parking garage for inbound ships more than anything else.

Platform 28 was the third docking bay for Danny. His previous assignments had, like this one someday would, ended when the newest phase’s construction called for the bay to be converted to something else. And each of the three suffered from the same problem, as far as Danny was concerned: They were outwards from the center of the galaxy, where most of the galaxy’s stars and, as such, most of the civilized systems were. Thus, traffic was heavier on the opposite side of Uphanopia from where Danny worked.

Although designed to hold a hundred medium sized starships, Danny never saw more than fifty parked at one time in the docking bay. Currently, Platform 28 held all of six ships, and each one of them was somebody’s personal yacht. They were considered residents, as they had been sitting there for many weeks while their owners vacationed or lived somewhere on Uphanopia, and seemed likely to remain where they were for some time to come.

Danny yawned and wondered if there’d be any traffic today. Many shifts went by that he got paid to sit and stare at the various monitors in his control room while nothing constantly happened. Nearly a universal hour into his shift (somewhat longer than a Terran hour), however, a blip on one of his monitors indicated an incoming vessel.

Following regulations, Danny keyed in a couple of commands. The ship was a Class F/118 Personal Yacht. This meant, in plainer terms, that it was an older vessel design and relatively boring. Danny punched up the ship’s design and decided boring was a mild word.

The Starship Vantoga, the incoming vessel’s registered name, was shaped like an egg with two flat sides. That is, if you took an egg, sliced off the fat end, then sliced again perpendicular to the first cut, you’d have the shape of this vessel. A pair of small, circular engines were attached to the back.

Even more boring than its basic design, the Vantoga was unpainted, unless its designer went out of their way to paint it a dull gray. Nothing other than its IFSORC-required markings were present. Danny punched a button and granted the ship access to the docking bay, then watched with disinterest as it glided smoothly in and settled onto its designated spot.

Usually, there is somebody on any vessel who is terribly anxious to get off as soon as it arrives wherever it’s going. Danny watched the Vantoga on one of his monitors, and noticed that no door revealed itself, and nobody left the vessel.

A half hour passed, and a buzzer indicated his break-time had come. Eyelids drooping, Danny decided the break room’s coffee might be a good idea.

He returned a few minutes later, coffee and a snack in hand, to find that somebody occupied his seat.

Excuse me? he asked with some surprise.

The person in his chair whirled about, startled by Danny’s voice. Danny didn’t recognize her race, but she was something humanoid and reasonably good-looking. Her skin was dark blue, and she had snow-white hair that fell in a gentle curl to the middle of her back. She wore a light blue jumper suit.

Oh, dear, I shouldn’t be here! the woman cried.

No, you shouldn’t, Danny agreed. This is a restricted area. Authorized personnel only and all that.

Please don’t have me arrested! I…I just need something.

You need something from here?

Yes, my…my friend is hurt. I need a priest.

I’m sorry to hear that. But we don’t have priests here in the Platform 28 control room. How long does your friend have?

Have? the woman questioned, puzzled.

To live. You said he’s hurt and that you need a priest; I just assumed you were thinking you’ll need last rites for him soon.

Oh, no, he’s not dying. Not yet, anyway. Eddie just needs to be healed.

Then you need a doc or a medbot, not a priest.

Do you have one of those? the woman asked anxiously

Somehow, the blue-skinned girl seemed even stranger than when he first laid eyes on her. Today was not going to be a normal day on Platform 28 after all.

We have a medbot, of course, for emergencies. How seriously is your friend hurt?

He’s a cut and a little burned. More cut than burned. The burning was to stop the bleeding. The way the woman said the last part seemed to indicate she was somehow responsible for the burning, and felt a little guilty about it. Also, he said something about diseases.

Danny shrugged and said, "Technically, I can authorize you to be here, so consider yourself authorized. That way I don’t need to make a report or anything. That said, let’s get your friend tended to. Where is he?"

There, the girl said, pointing to the newly arrived vessel on a nearby flat-screen monitor.

Let’s go, then, Danny said, grabbing the medbot kit from where it hung on the wall.

Danny led the way to the bay area of Platform 28, followed by the odd blue girl. He wondered how she’d gotten in, but decided it was a question for later.

Name’s Danny, by the way, he said by way of introduction as they started to cross the bay to where the Vantoga sat.

Most of my friends call me Tella, the girl told him.

As they approached, Danny wondered where the doors were on the Vantoga. Many ships kept their entrances concealed, but there were usually some sign of where they were once you got close enough. The Vantoga wasn’t revealing her doors, not even when he got close enough to see her lack of decoration extended to being crystal clean. Even the shortest interstellar voyages gave a vessel some scarring, but this ship was spotless

Danny slowed down and let Tella take the lead. She led him to the middle of the backside. A door appeared, sliding open when she got neared it. Beyond the door was a short flight of steps made of stone.

As Tella went up the stairs in the Vantoga’s entrance, Danny noticed two new things that were odd about the girl: She appeared to have a tail, but the jumper had no hole for it, so it was inside her pants and curled around her left leg. There was also a growth on her backside, covered by the top of jumper suit. Whatever it was, it twitched occasionally.

Before going in, Danny punched a code into the personal communications device on his wrist. This notified his station that he was boarding a vessel and routed things appropriately, per regulation.

The plainness of the Vantoga ended at the doorway. The stone stairs led to a corridor with a hardwood floor lit by actual fire-burning torches. It was as if he had walked into an ancient castle instead of onto a starship.

Tella led him to and through a door on the left side, into a luxurious bedroom. The lighting was dim, and Danny could not quite make out the figure laying in the bed.

You found a priest? asked a nasal voice from the bed.

No, I found this man, who has brought something he says will heal you. A medbot, I think he called it.

The voice said something unintelligible and the room rather suddenly lit up. Laying in the bed was a rat. Not the short kind that likes cheese and hates cats, but a rat furr, a creature that looked like an oversized rat but acted more like a human.

Its size was relatively human, too, as furrs tended to be. The rat slipped out of the bed and Danny saw that it easily stood over a meter tall, possibly as much as a meter and a half.

I’m Eddie, the rat said with a snort, holding a paw out.

Danny had met furrs before, so held out his hand to shake the rat’s, but the rat suddenly collapsed.

Eddie! Tella gasped.

I’m fine, the rat snarled, though he looked anything but fine crumpled by the side of the bed.

Danny tapped the side of the medbot kit and said, Activate. The kit grew spindly legs and Danny dropped it. The kit unfolded and reconfigured itself, changing from a dark gray briefcase to a large spiked ball atop a half-dozen spidery legs.

The rat looked up and said, No, not a spider thing.

Spider thing? It’s a standard mini-medbot. Danny said.

The medbot paused in front of its reluctant patient.

What’s a mini-medbot? Eddie asked.

Danny pointed and said, That is. It’ll fix up whatever’s giving you a problem, I promise.

The rat looked dubious, but Tella said, It’s only got 6 legs, Eddie, so it can’t be a spider.

So it does. Very well, let it do its thing.

It probably already is, Danny said. It should be running diagnostics right now.

Diagnosis complete, the medbot announced in a clipped male voice. Are there any present who should not be informed of my analysis?

No, Danny told it. Proceed, please.

Patient suffers from nine unrecognized diseases. In addition, there are significant injuries to the head, legs and the left inner ear.

Can you heal him? Tella asked.

"Yes. The diseases should be controllable through a dose of Class 3/9 Disease Removal Nanobots. Class A/220 Organic Repair Nanobots should be sufficient for repairing the other injuries. Patient is currently nanobot free, so permission is required before proceeding. Your condition is still being analyzed."

My condition? Tella said, startled.

Correction: I am not certain if you have a condition, as I have not yet identified your race. You contain numerous aspects of several races, but do not appear to be a crossbreed and I have yet to locate genetic structures. I am having difficulty finding any structure at all, in fact.

Just heal me, Eddie sighed. Get it over with.

A dot of light appeared on Eddie’s forehead, accompanied by a buzz from the medbot. You should be healed within one day, the machine said. Symptoms of the diseases should disappear in the next hour, although the inner ear trouble will continue to give you balance problems until that is healed.

Help me back into bed, Temptella, the rat said.

The blue girl gently lifted Eddie up and laid him in the bed.

So what are you? Danny asked.

I’m…new here. We both are, Tella replied in a cheerful voice.

Yes, I know. You docked here about an hour ago.

The blue woman shook her head. That’s not what I meant. I…Eddie, help me out here.

What she means to say is that we’ve come from a distant star, we’ve had a long trip, we’re tired and she’s a bit delusional.

Delusional?! Tella exclaimed, pouting.

All right, you’re not delusional, but the education I’ve failed to give you about where we are will make you seem that way.

Perhaps I should make a report on this, then, Danny said, starting to back away.

"I suggest you not make any report on us," the rat said. Something about the way he said somehow convinced Danny that the rat was right, though he couldn’t say what.

All right, I won’t do that. Medbot, return to inactive configuration.

The medbot folded back up again, becoming a rectangular box with a handle. Danny picked it up and turned to leave.

Danny? Tella said.

Can I go with you?

Shouldn’t you stay with him while he gets better?

No, he’s terribly grumpy when he’s healing. Besides, there’s something I need to show you.

I should— Eddie began to say, but Tella cut him off.

No, you shouldn’t. You need to rest. I’ll figure out how to tell him.

The rat looked to say something else, but then suddenly he fell sound asleep.

Hard to show anybody anything when you fall dead asleep like that, Tella chided. Let’s go, Danny.

Danny could not remember being more unsure of what was going on than he did right now. Nonetheless, he led Tella back to the Platform 28 control room.

As he mentioned earlier, this was permitted by regulations as there was nothing particularly secret about docking bay operations. Tella’s presence in the control room earlier was a problem because she somehow got there unaccompanied and was unsupervised until Danny had found her. However, a belated authorization, such as the one Danny verbally gave, was sufficient to legally allow her access.

Danny plopped down in his seat in the control room and punched a button. A seat rose up from the floor, and Danny indicated to Tella that she should sit in it. She sat down and Danny briefly busied himself checking the status of Platform 28 things, knowing they would be okay unless he failed to check for problems. Murphy’s law was eternal.

Now, what is it you needed to tell me? Danny asked.

We came here because we were chased here. Eddie said something about a stars-ship locking us up or something.

Locking onto you?

Tella nodded. I think that’s what he said.

Did he say who it was?

He said he wasn’t sure, but that we’d showed up in the middle of a war between some fake demons.

Danny digested this bit of information and then asked, Milda, anything about Demons, Inc. and Devilstaff bringing their little feud back to this vicinity?

Some, but nothing threatening, a friendly female voice replied, startling Tella.

Are you…no, Eddie said there weren’t any of those here. Who was that?

I am Milda, local computer system for Docking Bay P20/RA/X6F.1C.

Tella nodded, but Danny had the feeling she understood nothing the computer had said.

Detail on the local activity, Danny commanded.

All on our side of Uphanopia, Milda replied. But the closest vessel is eight lytes away. Total of nine vessels; three demons and six devils.

Do they appear to be aware of each other?

Movements would indicate that they are aware and are preparing for a fight. However, all indications are that they will be following the one lyte restriction imposed the last time they fought near Uphanopia.

Display on main screen the vessels involved, Danny commanded. The main screen, usually appearing to be a window into space, changed, splitting into nine sections, each showing a starship. Recognize any of these? he asked of Tella.

This one, she said, pointing to one of the images. We saw that one through Eddie’s window.

Milda?

"Devilstaff ship, the Bazelisa III, Class 7/99 Battle Cruiser. No proper IFSORC registration, so I have no details on this vessel beyond name and classification. It is currently twelve lytes away."

See? It’s far, far away from here.

How much is a lyte? Tella asked.

That’s a light year. The distance light travels in a year.

Tella seemed uncomprehending for a moment, but then gave a slow nod of her head. That’s quite a distance. But I don’t think we were that far away when they started shooting at us.

What’s the closest that ship has been recently, Milda?

"The Bazelisa III appears to be a new vessel, and has only entered our extreme long range scanners within the last galactic day. Its closest approach is its current position."

I think she’s wrong, Tella disagreed.

Danny shook his head. Milda is almost never wrong. Actually, I’ve never known her to make a mistake at all.

Do you have a mirror or a piece of glass? Tella asked after a moment’s pause.

Danny shrugged and punched a few keys. A holographic mirror appeared between he and the strange blue woman. The woman acted as if nothing was there.

Will this work? Danny asked.

Will what work? Tella asked in return.

Don’t you see the mirror there? Danny asked, pointing.

Where? I don’t see any mirrors, Tella replied, looking around.

Danny was puzzled, but decided that it was yet something else to question later. Milda, can you fabricate a ‘real’ mirror using the break-room’s fabricator and deliver it here? he asked.

Yes, Danny.

Danny smiled at Tella, who simply sat there, confused as ever. He punched a button and the holographic mirror went away. A moment later, a small delivery-bot—a hovering sphere with spindly arms—came in carrying a hand mirror.

Will this do? Danny asked.

Perfect, Tella replied. She took the mirror from the delivery-bot and promptly dropped it. Ow!

What’s the matter?

Still pained, Tella asked, Is that a silver mirror?

Of course. Best material for a mirror, you know.

The girl shook her head. I have an extreme reaction to silver.

I guess. Contact?

Hmm?

Is it through touch only?

Oh. Mostly, Tella replied, nodding her head vigorously.

Danny stood up and opened a closet in the wall opposite the main view screen of the control room. Within the closet stood a spacesuit which, to Danny’s knowledge, had never been used. He carefully removed the gloves and offered them to Tella.

Will this help?

Tella shrugged, uncertain. I…I don’t know. I don’t think what I want to do will work with silver.

What are you going to do?

It’s hard to explain. Eddie told me you wouldn’t understand.

Danny shook his head and turned back to the closet.

It seems to me Eddie doesn’t think much of the rest of the universe, Danny commented.

Danny put the gloves back in place and was about to close the closet door when Tella cried, Wait!

Yes? Danny asked.

The headpiece—what’s the window made of?

I’m not sure, but it’s probably not glass. I seem to recall that was the alternative to a mirror.

Hand me the head-thing anyway. Maybe it will work.

Danny shrugged and detached the suit’s helmet. It was designed to fit humans, who tended to operate the outer docking bays, but unlike the days of old such suits tended to be form-fitting at times, except for the helmet, which was vaguely egg-shaped and opaque except for a large visor on the front.

Tella took the helmet and set it on her lap, staring deeply into the visor. She put one hand on either side of the visor and lowered her head towards it. Danny became convinced that Eddie had likely been right when he called Tella delusional.

It’s working! Tella said after a moment.

What’s working? Danny asked.

I’m getting an image!

Danny looked at the visor and was startled to see it was no longer transparent. It was mostly dark, with the distinct image of the Devilstaff ship Tella had pointed out earlier clearly visible in the foreground. The Bazelisa III with its unique pitchfork shape and dark red coloring moved against a starry background.

How did you do that? Danny asked.

It’s something Eddie taught me. I’m not terribly good at it, but I am getting better.

Something dawned on Danny, and he asked, Are you a Talent?

A what?

A Talent, with a capital T. Mind powers.

Tella shook her head. Oh, a psi. No, I don’t have any of those abilities.

Then how…?

Eddie said you wouldn’t understand. Which I am beginning to believe.

Danny sighed. Okay, I won’t understand. For the moment, I’ll accept that. Especially since, from what I’ve heard of Talents, they can’t stretch their abilities over light years too easily, as you appear to be doing.

I don’t think this is a light year away.

How far, then?

The view on the visor shifted. The angle on the Bazelisa III had been from above, forward, and to one side; now the viewpoint was looking at the vessel’s port side. The view began zooming outward, until the Devilstaff ship could no longer be seen. Finally, the zooming seemed to stop.

Okay, I don’t see either the ship or Uphanopia.

Uphanopia?

This place. Where you docked your ship.

Tella looked puzzled again, then said, Oh, Eddie said we were a ship or something. I remember now.

"Right. The Vantoga is a ship, and it is docked here in Uphanopia."

Got it. But Uphanopia is there. It’s a little tiny dark circle. Can’t you see it?

Danny peered closely, and after a moment made out a small disk that could, in fact, be Uphanopia.

Okay, I found Uphanopia. But what about the Devilstaff ship?

I’ll make it more visible, Tella said.

A bright red dot appeared. Uphanopia’s disk was on the visor’s right side and the red dot was on the far left.

If the scale is right on this, Danny said, then you’re right, they’re not far away. But my close-range scanners aren’t picking them up.

None of them?

None of what?

The strange woman sighed, frustrated. Your close-range scanners that aren’t seeing it!

Tella broke her concentration finally and looked up. The image on the helmet’s visor vanished and it went back to being transparent.

"Well, I don’t have them all running. We mostly use some passive ones and leave the active ones alone.