Hold32 - 1. Hold 32

“We’re going to Hold 32,” Derrick said as he walked into the office. He was taller and thinner than his partner; and, at thirty-three, had already begun to find gray hairs if he looked hard enough. “A coolant valve seems to have closed or become blocked. The twenty series holds are becoming too warm.”

Jerry, who’d gone totally bald at twenty-five, looked up from a desk covered with repair chits from all over the ship. Five plumbers to take care of a ship the dimension of a good sized moon, yet at least it was a job and gave them something to do. There was always something going bad on the ship. After all it had been over a thousand centuries since the ship powered out of Earth’s orbit.

“Are they going to give us security support?” Jerry asked, knowing the answer.

“No, they’ll give us a couple stunners in case we run into anything dangerous,” Derrick said. “And, it’s just the two of us.”

“Figures, is the valve at least close to a portal?” Jerry asked, knowing the answer. The problems were never close to access ports. They’d be lucky if the portal was on the same floor as the valve, but there was another reason to be concerned.

Why it was decided to take along some of Earth’s ecosystems seemed lost in time. Hold 32 was where they put one of the big feline predators when the ship was being outfitted. It was known that the habitat barriers in all the thirty series holds broke down sometime in the last millennium, yet no one knew if the predator to prey mix had reached equilibrium. The ecosystems had pretty much been left to develop, or deteriorate, on their own. They were going to be the first humans to enter Hold 32 in a long, long time and all they were getting was a couple stunners.

“I suppose we have to leave now,” Jerry said, looking up at Derrick for just a bit of reassurance.

“And we’re going to miss Tricia and David’s recital,” Derrick said, laying one of the stunners on the desk in front of Jerry. “Aunt Louise has agreed to take them in until we return.”

“Good ol’ Aunt Louise, what would we do without her?” Jerry sighed.

“Be good parents like we usually are,” Derrick said. “Now, let’s get our kits together so we can catch the eastbound shuttle by six o’clock.”

*******

The stunner wasn’t the most powerful weapon on the ship, but it was the only one authorized to be used inside the ship. The others had been developed in case they ran into any unfriendly aliens, which no one actually expected since the odds were against it. That didn’t mean a stunner couldn’t kill. Set on high, a stunner interrupted breathing and heart beats, but the steps to get the thing to the high setting were so complicated no one had ever been killed. Stunned yes, dead no.

Being maintenance, the men received priority seating on all the transports down through the ship until they reached the engineering level above the first storage and haulage level, a journey that took them nearly a full day. They were the only passengers on the engineering shuttle that took them for the final leg, yet they had over three hundred kilometers to the portal to Hold 32. Unfortunately, there were no regular transports this far into the ship. They had elevators, ladders, stairways, and two-person jitneys to move them the final four hours to the door, which was sealed.

“It says we can’t go in this door,” Jerry said, looking up from the placard on the wall.

“The service order says we go in this way,” Derrick said. “The valve is only a couple hundred meters away. Set your stunner on eleven.”

“Why so high?” Jerry asked.

Derrick gave him the look and Jerry set his stunner to the highest available setting without releasing the safety lever. He hoped it would stop a big cat. Derrick took a door wrench from his kit bag and set it on the topmost nut. He pulled, but nothing happened.

“It’s sealed, Derrick,” Jerry said. “This is a secondary access point. There are opposing nuts on the other side and that nut was set-welded to the bolt; and, none of that matters because there is an electro seal on both sides. We have to go to the nearest primary.”

“But the service order stipulates this door,” Derrick said in his most officious voice. “The closest primary is five kilometers that way.”

“That will be at the junction-way between Holds 32 and 33,” Jerry said, making a sour face and swallowing his fear. “There was prey in Hold 33. We’ll have to go into the junction-way, first. How many shots do we get out of a stunner before the power pack fades?”

“Five.”

“Only five?”

“That’s what the specs say,” Derrick said. “I’ve never had to use one, but I’ve heard they handle five shots before you have to let it recharge. Come on, this isn’t going to be anything. We’ll just go in, walk back this way to the valve, do what we have to do, and leave. We’ll be back here in a few hours.”

“That’s what you say,” Jerry said as he turned and hurried to catch up to his husband.

*******

The tiger was selected to be the primary jungle predator mostly because the genetic pool for lions was deemed insufficient to sustain a pride through the length of time the ship had to journey to its unknown destination, that is, the first suitable planet to sustain human existence. Plus, tigers were solitary predators that could adapt to the relatively confined conditions of the holds. Appropriately the puma was selected for the pine and prairie habitats.

Derrick and Jerry would be entering a jungle habitat. They didn’t know that much about tigers, just what they’d learned back in zoology class in school as it was a required course because of all the animals on board. They did know they were going to have to be extra careful considering they were going to be a lot further away from the valve than they originally thought.

“Well, that looks like a primary access portal, if I’ve ever seen one,” Derrick said when they reach the wall of the junction-way. “What’s the placard say? It’d better say we can get in here or we’re going to have to go down to the inter-hold space and do a reroute on the plumbing. I’d much rather repair a valve than do a reroute. Well, what’s the news?”

“There are tigers in here and monkeys and deer,” Jerry said. “There are tigers, Derrick. We’ll have to ration our stunner shots so we don’t run out. Tigers are man-eaters.”

“Don’t get jelly-legged on me now,” Derrick said, derisively. He was nervous, too, but didn’t want Jerry to know. “Come on; let’s get started on the bolts. I’ll start at the top and you do the bottom ones.”

“Okay, but you’re going to have to go in first,” Jerry said, kneeling down to the floor. He worked at the same rate as his partner until they had the door ready to be unsealed. It was a small portal so only one of them would be able to go in at a time. Meaning one would be inside by himself until the other could get in. They’d have to shut the door to ensure none of the animals escaped.

“Well, are you going to unseal the door?” Derrick asked. “Or, do I have to do it.”

“I’ll do it,” Jerry said as he pulled the unsealer out of his kit. He pushed the narrow edge into the slot and pulled back. The familiar hiss of air passing through the gap made Jerry feel uneasy. The escaping air was very warm, a lot warmer than the ship’s normal ambient temperature.

“Pull the door open,” Derrick said.

Jerry did as he was told.

There were two macaques sitting next to a tiger, which reached over and pulled the door closed.

“Um, I think we’re not wanted,” Jerry said.

“Well, that was obvious,” Derrick said. “Oh, well, we haven’t done a reroute in months.”

End

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