Free Chrono Virus by Aaron Crocco Page A

The cargo was still intact and the ship still read all three life signs for the trio on board.
      "Ken buzzed the comm link. “Captain.”
    "You okay up there?" a gritty voice asked.
    "Hubs, you better get up here. I don't know how it was below, but the whole damn ship just shook like you wouldn't believe."
    "Is Watts okay?" the captain asked.
    Ken glanced at the system's readout. "Vitals are normal, but she hasn't keyed a message up here."
      "I’ll grab her on my way up."
    The link cut off, leaving Ken to   stare out the 180-degree viewport at the bridge's front. The black vacuum of space and speckled stars looked no different than all the runs he and Hubbard had made. Ken let out a long exhale before setting the climate back to 72 degrees. Hubbard wouldn't want to freeze his ass off.

The Raven was a tin can. The Augusta class ship was a medium sized vessel, long and round, shaped like a big straw. Sound bounced off the metal and reverberated throughout the length of the ship as Hubbard and Heidi Watts approached. Ken could hear their footsteps from thirty feet away. A moment later the seal on the door disengaged and it creaked open. Hubbard and Watts entered and the captain locked the door behind him.
    Captain Bill Hubbard was slightly taller than Ken, clocking in at six foot, ten. His muscular build gave him the strength to accomplish most of the heavy lifting around the ship solo, yet without slowing him down, thanks to a rigorous daily workout. It was all muscle thanks to a workout set in his quarters below. His beard had grown to a near bushy state since they undocked at Bridger. The Raven was well stocked with grooming supplies, but Hubbard liked to mark the time with his whiskers. He'd shave the moment they unloaded the coils at Cogan, looking professional once again so he could lock in the next job.
    "Status, Mr. Mallory."
    Ken lifted an eyebrow. Hubbard was rarely this formal. "Ship-wide system's almost done scanning, but she's coming back all green so far."
    "Good. You know you forgot to announce 'Captain on the bridge' when I entered. You also didn't stand at attention."
    Ken nearly roared in laughter, but Hubbard's stare was deadly.  
      Protocol? We haven't done that crap in years.
      He tried to read the captain’s face. Hubbard didn't move and the air grew thicker by the second.
    "Um, Captain on the bridge?" Ken made his body rigid and threw a half-hearted salute.
    Hubbard's face remained stone, and he leaned closer toward Ken's face.
    His words were barely audible. "Never... bet me that I can't get him to do something, Watts." Hubbard's authority dissolved, and his laugh bounced around the bridge.
      Watts threw her hands in the air. "Fine, fine. It's only ten qit off my share of the cargo. I can't believe you fell for that, Ken! C'mon, I thought you were better than that."
    Ken rolled his eyes. "Well, now that I'm no longer the mark for your wager, can we get down to business? I mean, it is your ship after all, Hubs."
    Hubbard walked up to the console and Ken moved to make the chair available for its rightful owner. He watched the captain scroll through the same data he scoured through minutes earlier.
    "That was some intense turbulence," Watts said. "I've only been sailing for a few years   and I've never felt anything like that before."
    "Neither have I," Ken said. "The sensors alerted me to an issue a few seconds before it hit, but nothing's out there." He pointed to the glass.
    Watts’s frown deepened with each new screen she read through. She glanced out at the viewport, sighed, and then focused back to the data. Ken knew she'd hit the same dead end as him. Watching her work through it though made him smile. Heidi reminded him of his sister Lindsey the moment he first saw her. Only a year older, Watts   mirrored her fascination for space. Their identical ship-standard cuts of brown hair lent an air of familiarity to Ken's otherwise lonely time away from his family. Ken hoped to bring Watts