Free Running With Argentine by William Lee Gordon Page A

it.
     
    Their new patient now occupied the one bed in the alcove.
     
    All crewmen in the Chezden fleet were trained in cross
specialties. On small ships, especially, it was a necessity. Lieutenant Stark
was certified as security and weapons. Sami’s specialty was astrogation and she
could also pilot the ship when necessary. The chief was the Pelican’s lead engineer
and had expertise in hyperspace theory as well as the ship’s mechanical systems
such as life support and damage control.
     
    As a First Officer, Argentine was expected to be familiar
with all specialties but not necessarily be a master of any.
     
    Which made for a wide variety of skills, but as luck would
have it, none of them had medical training.
     
    So, Sami watched over the unconscious pilot the best she
could while the chief, the lieutenant, and Argentine huddled on the bridge to
discuss what came next.
     
    “We’ve gone over that ship bow to stern,” said the chief.
     
    It was designed for a crew of five and there’s no sign of
them, but all their personal effects are still there. The interesting thing is
there’s not a single photo of our patient. I don’t think he was one of the
crew.”
     
    “So he stole the ship?”
     
    The chief just shrugged.
     
    “What about the ship’s records?” Argentine asked.
     
    “We accessed what we could but the last entry in the
Captain’s log was entered twelve days ago and there was no mention of anything
amiss. I’ve downloaded the ships telemetry but I haven’t had time to go through
it. Maybe it’ll tell us something.”
     
    “First, I did find a cabinet of small arms weapons,” the
lieutenant said. “I brought them back with me and I’ll look them over. I’m not
familiar with the design but I think I understand them well enough. Judging by
how compact the energy source is I’d say that the technology is slightly more
advanced than ours.”
     
    “Okay, let’s…”
     
    “Argentine,” said the chief with a huge grin. “That’s not
all we found.
     
    “I was able to download the ship’s star chart as well as its
database.”
     
     
    ΔΔΔ
     
     
    A day later
they were setting around the one table in the ship’s mess when the chief asked
the main question on everyone’s mind.
     
    “So what are you running away from?”
     
    “Running away? I wasn’t running away. Why would you ever
think that?” responded their now fully awake patient.
     
    “Besides, what kind of way is that to start a conversation?
No hello mate , or how you feeling ? Just accusations? What kind of
people are you?”
     
    The chief didn’t miss a beat.
     
    “We’re the kind of people that saved your butt and you
haven’t answered the question.”
     
    “Well, I suppose I should be thankful… That blasted ship let
me down at the last minute.”
     
    “How did you survive hitting the gravity wall?” Sami asked
enthusiastically.
     
    “Yes, that was pretty incredible wasn’t it?” he answered
with a grin.
     
    “Let’s stay on track here,” Argentine interjected. “Tell us
your name and then we want to hear the full story. I think you owe us that.”
     
    “Ah, civility at last. I don’t suppose you have a spot of
tea to go with the politeness?”
     
    Gauging the looks he received he just sighed.
     
    “Very well, my name is Barry and I will once again thank you
for being there when my situation went all to pot.”
     
    “Barry who?” asked the chief.
     
    “Does it really matter old man? This should be a
celebration. Let’s not turn it into a damp squib, don’t you think?”
     
    Argentine said, “I think you still need to tell us how you
got on that ship and exactly what happened to bring you here, and I think now
would be a good time to do it, don’t you? ”
     
    “Don’t be giving me a bollocking, mate. It hasn’t been an
easy road, you know.”
     
    Mocking offense Barry leaned back in his chair and said,
“Hold your water and I’ll walk you through it all. But a