Depot-14: The Dream That Never Was

By J.J. Mainor

When Depot-14 requires an expensive repair, Colton and Tucker head to a supposedly abandoned supply depot in orbit around a dead colony seeking salvage, only the depot is not as abandoned as he thought. In order to save his brother’s life, Colton must thwart a terrorist plot.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.J. Mainor
• Release date: Jun 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370256952

J.J. Mainor

I can talk about my characters and stories far more easily than I can talk about myself. The best way to learn about me is through those stories. Writing primarily science fiction, I enjoy worlds and universes that aren't so black and white. Every story has something to say, and every message is not as straight-forward as it seems. We tend to boil ourselves down and define ourselves according to neat labels, whether by race, gender, political identity, or whatever; and the truth is, we're more complicated than that. I try to write worlds and characters that reflect that complexity and diversity of belief.

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Depot-14: The Dream That Never Was

Copyright 2017 by J.J. Mainor

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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 1

Colton awoke to an explosion, not a wonderful thing under any circumstances, but especially frightening in a giant tin can floating in the vacuum of space. He grabbed his gray jumpsuit to throw over his underpants on his way out, ignoring his shoes altogether.

Jakarta was already out of her cabin and on the way to investigate.

That was close! She told him. Like right under my bed close!

Too close to be a ship outside on approach. Too close even to be the cooker overheating five decks below. It was the maintenance level beneath their feet, an entire level on their supply depot devoted to nothing but the complex and sensitive systems and equipment that kept the station operating and habitable.

Lights remained on, though dim, as if running on backup power. Colton accessed the nearest terminal hoping for a maintenance report before venturing down; at least the computers weren’t taken offline. As Jakarta felt around the air vents to see if life support functioned, Tucker pulled himself dreamily from his cabin.

What’s goin’ on?

Colton turned from the computer and grabbed him by the shoulders. I don’t know yet, but it’s bad. I need you to get up to the scout and get away from here in case the rest of this place goes up.

But what about you? he asked growing worried. If I take the scout, you two’ll be stuck here. How’ll you get off?

It was a tough decision for any of them to make. Certainly no one wanted to sacrifice their life if they didn’t have to, and it wasn’t necessary for all of them to die if it came to that. However the scout carried only two. There was no room in the tiny ship to squeeze a third person, even uncomfortably. Someone had to stay behind, and the argument over which volunteer would get to make the sacrifice risked the lives of all three. It was easier to accept both of the adults would stay than to risk the teenager’s life.

Jackie and I have to try and save the station. It might not be as bad as it sounded if we can get down there and fix the problem, but if it turns out we can’t – if it turns out that was just the first of somethin’ worse, we’re not makin’ it up there anyway. Now I can’t focus on fixin’ that problem if I have you here worryin’ me. I need you on that scout and away from here.

A tear formed in the younger brother’s eye. His brother, being so much older than he was, left the family ranch when Tucker was very young. It was only after their father died that they entered each other’s lives. To Tucker the few months they had together felt a lot shorter; it felt to him as if he just found Colton yesterday, and something inside him said he would lose him again right there and then. Colton was insistent and wouldn’t take the boy’s refusal for anything. Jakarta even threatened to drag him up there and force him off the station until he relented, climbing off as fast as he could before Colton saw him break down and cry.

It was every bit as hard for the older brother too, but he wasn’t planning on dying just yet. The computer returned with a status report offering a slight bit of good news.

Solar batteries overheated. That explosion was them. Computer says the level is sealed and the fire suppression system active.

That doesn’t mean we’re outa danger, Jakarta remarked. Each level had a lot of space, but those stations also had a lot of equipment squeezed onto that one deck. Though the batteries only stored power for the brief time the station spent out of the sunlight as well as for emergencies, they were close to the overall distribution system. If conduits were damaged, the unrestrained electricity flowing from the solar array could ignite any of a number of systems. If the heat neared the airflow, it could expand the gas within the ventilation ducts until there was a burst. Worse, if heat fell too close to the scrubbers, it could ignite the raw oxygen or hydrogen pulled from the CO2 and stored before recombination with the nitrogen for release into the air. Both stationmasters imagined an endless series of horrible outcomes, and the only way to ensure none came to fruition was to get down there and investigate.

The computers announced the end of the fire suppression cycle, so they climbed down and stood outside the sealed hatch. Jakarta glanced toward her buddy to make sure he was ready for whatever lay inside before she disengaged the security seals and opened up.

Traces of smoke escaped toward them. They ignored it and pushed inward and circled around the towers of machines and equipment. The fire suppression system had released a foam designed to choke the life out of any fire there might have been. Simply removing the oxygen would only kill certain flames; the foam was designed to tackle plasma fires that might survive, even in the cold airless vacuum of space. The foam itself vaporized quickly, almost cleaning itself up. However it was not perfect, and even after dealing with the emergency, there would be a lot of time spent scrubbing it all out of the equipment.

Colton spied the batteries – two of them, large and towering from floor-to-ceiling. One was shredded completely and the other sliced open from the debris of the first. As they feared, one of the main conduits entering from the nearest solar panel had been severed. Jakarta shut off the power flow to stop the arcing, but they would have to throw a patch on it so they could get full power flowing again.

The gravity regulators were not particularly close, but they had been damaged by a piece of metal thrown across the room. Of course gravity had not failed or the pair would have been floating about instead of walking, but when it came time to move some of the heavy objects about, they would not be able to adjust the gravity to make the task easier.

Colton spied more metal dug into the outer wall, and it was nothing short of a miracle it stopped before piercing clean through to space. The security seal would not have so easily allowed them to enter if the atmosphere had been compromised, but with their space suits stored in this level, they would not have been able to suit up and investigate if the worst had happened.

He took no chances though, and sought out a couple emergency patches stowed in a kit, similar to the first aid kit, but one to conduct first aid on the station itself. Those patches were a quick and temporary solution to a small hull breach, something they could throw onto the hole to stop the loss of atmosphere. There were ordinary metal sheets available if the hole was clean, and there were also rubbery pieces in case the seal had to be made around something sticking through the hull like those shards of metal. Colton threw one of those onto any damaged spot he found just in case they had a breach too small to detect.

The computers continued to process the extent of the damage while the pair inspected with their own eyes. It certainly looked bad, but not as bad as they feared. It took the rest of the night, but they were able to patch and bypass their way through it all enough to keep the lights on and the air flowing. As long as they could live, and as long as nothing else blew, they could repair the remaining damage at a less frenetic pace.

By morning they were down below in the mess hall drowning their misery in a couple mugs of coffee. With the immediate danger out of the way, Tucker returned despite their wishes he remain on the planet below. Air might have been flowing, but life support was not optimal and it would have been better with only two people to tax the system instead of three. However, he was too relieved to hear his brother and his best friend were both still alive.

Now what do we do? Jakarta asked, almost rhetorically. The whole night seemed like a bad dream and in the tired dreariness of their daytime hours, all the work they fought through seemed so hopeless.

We fix it all, right? Tucker asked. Colton chuckled at his ambition. The two adults were the owners of this franchise, the boy was just a dependent. He was not usually the one anxious to begin a day of work since for him, work was just a way to earn his keep under his brother’s care. But to him, the depot had become a home, and like any home, when it was in trouble, he wanted to fix it – to save it. His youth and his bright eyes did not allow him to see the reality Jakarta and Colton had to face.

Those batteries are expensive, Colton told him. Fifteen thousand credits apiece, and we have to replace them both.

Along with everythin’ else up there, it seems,