An Enemy From the Dark. Ch. 10

Continued from Ch. 9 Posted in this Blog on November 1

Carick stepped into the Turbolift, called up the ships schematics and tapped on the Engine Room. The screen flashed red. The turboshaft on the map remained red after the screen returned to normal color. Carick understood that to mean a blockage of some kind within the turbo system.
“Computer,” Carick hesitated to ask the computer to calculate the best route to the Engine Room but time was of the essence.
“Working,” came the standard programmed female voice of the main computer.
“Engine Room,” Carick requested.
The car started moving. Carick wondered about the route the car would take with the standard shaft blocked. He noticed the lift was moving vertically. He thought it strange with the Engine Room below him.

“Roberts to Carick,” It was the voice of Cadet Kevin Robers coming from a speaker within the turbolift.
“Carick here.”
“Captain, we’ve got a serious problem.”
“Explain.”
“There seems to be a build up of plasma running from the main engine core to the impulse drives on the saucer section,” In the background Carick could hear alarms ringing. Then a strong electronic male voice sounded a warning. “Vent Now. Vent Now. Vent Now.”
“Warren, I don’t know how to vent plasma get over here and help m......”

An explosion rocked the ship. Carick was thrown against the wall of the turbolift. The car stopped moving. Carick found himself in complete darkness for a few seconds until the emergency lights flickered on. He was floating. The ship’s artificial gravity was off line.

He tapped his com badge. No computer response. He pushed himself away from the ceiling toward the floor. He stabilized his movement with the hand rails. The computer screen was working. His attempts to access ship communications failed. A few more taps brought up the ship schematics.

“Oh God no,” he whispered to himself. The screen showed an entire section of the port bulkhead between decks 4 and 6 gone. The ship was exposed to open space.

“If they didn’t know we were here, they do now,” Carick said to himself, referring to the alien ship spotted earlier nearby. Its funny the strange things that pass through someone’s mind in a disaster. Carick thought about the Titanic. Ever since he was a boy the story of the greatest ship of its time sinking on its maiden voyager through a series of unfortunate events fascinated him. He thought about Captain Smith, standing on the bridge of the White Star Line’s Flagship, watching the water boil over the bow and onto the deck. Carick always wondered what the old captain was thinking about as his ship sank from beneath him taking him and 1500 of his passengers to their deaths. Now, for the first time, he thought he knew the answer.