Damage Control

By David Bridger

“DAMAGE CONTROL is action, love and loyalty all wrapped around an intriguing Science Fiction puzzle.”
–USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR KIM KNOX

Kath Preston and Jen Stenberg are damage control engineers in the generation starship Romeo, 582 years into its 800-year journey from frozen Earth to humanity’s hopeful future on planet Nirvana. When they were schoolgirl best friends, Romeo’s population was doubled to 10,000 by taking on survivors from its stricken sister ship Juliet in the disaster that claimed the life of Kath’s hero father Peter.

On Christmas Eve seventeen years later, in the space of a single 24-hour duty while the people of Romeo are preparing to enjoy the holiday, can Kath and Jen step into Peter’s hero shoes when the actions of a murderous rogue crewman and the lurking ghost of the Juliet conspire to threaten Romeo’s safety and the lives of those they love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
• Release date: Jul 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781786453525

David Bridger

David Bridger settled with his family and their two monstrous hounds in England's West Country after twenty years of ocean-based fun, during which he worked at various times as a lifeguard, a sailor, an intelligence gatherer, and an investigator.

Book preview

Damage Control

Damage

Control

David Bridger

Beaten Track Logo

Beaten Track

www.beatentrackpublishing.com

Damage Control

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Second Edition

Published 2019 by Beaten Track Publishing

First published 2013

Copyright © 2013, 2019 David Bridger at Smashwords

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/davidbridger

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

ISBN: 978 1 78645 352 5

Editor: Emma Shortt

Cover: Razzle Dazzle Design

Beaten Track Publishing,

Burscough, Lancashire.

www.beatentrackpublishing.com

DAMAGE CONTROL is action, love and loyalty all wrapped around an intriguing Science Fiction puzzle.

–USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR KIM KNOX

Kath Preston and Jen Stenberg are damage control engineers in the generation starship Romeo, 582 years into its 800-year journey from frozen Earth to humanity’s hopeful future on planet Nirvana. When they were schoolgirl best friends, Romeo’s population was doubled to 10,000 by taking on survivors from its stricken sister ship Juliet in the disaster that claimed the life of Kath’s hero father Peter.

On Christmas Eve seventeen years later, in the space of a single 24-hour duty while the people of Romeo are preparing to enjoy the holiday, can Kath and Jen step into Peter’s hero shoes when the actions of a murderous rogue crewman and the lurking ghost of the Juliet conspire to threaten Romeo’s safety and the lives of those they love?

Contents

1. Ghost Attack

2. New Science

3. In the Dojo

4. Damage Control Station 6

5. A Bad Situation Gets Worse

6. In the Marine Center

7. A Christmas Carol

8. An Anti-Social Event

9. No Cosmic Particles Tonight

10. The Middle Watch

11. Chasing the Ghost

12. Reflections

13. Will You Marry Me?

About the Author

By the Author

Beaten Track Publishing

1. Ghost Attack

Island Class Generation Ship ROMEO

Destination: Planet Nirvana

Mission timeline: 582 years 91 days

Mission status: 72.781% complete

Dateline: 0730 December 24 2963

Jen lifted her foot from the pedal, and the rail car’s electric whine died alongside access hatch 87.

A deep clunk echoed from miles away down the damage control corridor. Hydraulic ticking sounded overhead. Otherwise, the air was still and nothing moved beneath the harsh blue-white strip lighting.

She arched an eyebrow at Crewman MacDonald sitting in the bucket seat next to hers. Today, Mac.

Mac rolled his head against the seat’s cushioned rest and gave her a seductive smile. I thought maybe we could just enjoy the moment.

In another time and place Jen might have been flattered. He was about the same age as her, a lively young twenty-something with a reputation as a ladies man, and the buzz in the Station 8 crew room was that he’d set his optimistic sights on her.

But at this halfway point in her forty-eight hour duty, she felt like crud and had zero interest in flirting with an eager crewman.

"Well I thought we’d just get back to the station before this watch ends, so move your backside."

He shook his head with mock sadness as he released his belt, then floated up out of his seat and pushed off towards the access hatch, performing a neat slow-motion somersault on the way.

She waited until his attention was elsewhere before she grinned. He was fun. She watched him work the hand restraints and footholds up to the hatch cover, where he braced his legs between two stanchions and started recording clip pressures.

A distant metallic squeaking rang along the corridor. She squinted against the overhead lights to see a tiny-looking team working on something five or six sectors away.

The damage control corridor inside the ship’s axle ran from the hub of the massive mirror at one end, through three miles of the alpha drive unit, then the ten miles of main cylinder, and then more three miles of the beta drive unit, to the hub of the identical massive mirror at the other end.

It was always a bit chilly in the corridor, always smelled stale, and always sounded spooky. It wasn’t a friendly place, but it was designed to be the fastest route between all sectors of the ship, and maintaining the integrity of its many access points was a vital task.

Mac finished his recordings and logged his timestamp on the screen beside the hatch.

Jen yawned wide, squeezing a tear from the corner of each eye. Double duties were grim, but there was no heavy maintenance scheduled over the Christmas holiday and she was making sure she slept between her alternating watches. All she needed when they got back to the station was a good hot shower, and she’d be ready for day two. And she’d be on with Kath for that second twenty-four. That would make a nice change.

What’s that man doing now?

Mac was floating away from the hatch cover, but he wasn’t returning to the car or even looking at it. It was more like he was swimming some weird kind of backstroke across the corridor.

C’mon, Mac.

He rolled in mid-air but didn’t respond to her.

Mac?

His eyelids fluttered and his whole body started twitching violently. The back of his head bumped repeatedly against the steel ceiling.

Shit! Jen released her belt and pushed up hard to catch him and stop him hurting himself.

She grabbed him and twisted to plant her boot soles on the ceiling, then sprang off it and hauled him back down to the car. Cramming him into his seat and getting him belted up was a job-and-a-half while she was floating too, but he’d stopped fitting and somehow she managed it.

C’mon, Mac. Talk to me.

She pulled his shoulder brace down to hold him in place in case he started thrashing around again.

His eyes were half-open and he keened quietly while she tended him, but he showed no awareness of her and didn’t respond to her voice.

She started the car and stabbed the com button. Control room, this is Stenberg. I’m calling an emergency!

—Emergency! All teams keep this channel clear until further notice. Go ahead, Stenberg.

MacDonald has suffered a ghost attack. He’s stopped fitting, but isn’t fully conscious. We’ll be at the airlock in six minutes. Have the medics meet us there.

2. New Science

Cold sweat stuck Kath’s uniform shirt to her back, and her stomach lurched for the hundredth time since she’d jolted awake at dawn.

She checked the time again. Oh-nine-fifty-five.

Where the hell are you, Jen? I can’t do this alone.

I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Jen hurried from the wings on to the dimly lit rear stage.

I thought you weren’t coming.

One of my crewmen had a ghost attack in the corridor.

Shit.

"I went with him in the medic car, but the doctors won’t let anyone see him until they’ve run tests and