Wilma circled the large table slowly, her eyes drifting between the skeleton and the dead body that Kate had retrieved from the Omegan ship. Every few steps, she would stop and rearrange a bone in the skeletal structure. Jack eyed her with curiosity, standing back and away from the table to let the doctor do her work.
“Fascinating,” Wilma exhaled. “I’ve never seen the like of it.”
“Any guesses?”
She ran her right hand through her hair. “I think I have the skeleton put together correctly now. Beyond that, I don’t want to jump the gun on anything. I’ll need to run DNA tests, blood tests… every test I can think of. It’ll take a while.” She paused. “Are we in a hurry?”
The question seemed to take Jack by surprise. “Huh. Not in a major hurry, I suppose. But some speed might be good. I’m thinking… I mean, I found the skeleton on our ship. A ship that had been buried for a hundred years. These things have been around for a while. So why haven’t we heard anything about them? Even my ancestor’s journals don’t mention anything about other creatures besides the Omegans.”
“Maybe… maybe whatever they are, the Omegans try to keep their existence a secret?”
Jack pointed at her with excitement. “Yes! Exactly! And if they are keeping these creatures a secret that could mean that either these things are something that points out a weakness in the Omegans…”
Wilma brightened. “Or they’re an enemy!”
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, doctor.”
“I’ll start the autopsy and tests right away, Captain.”
Jack exited the medlab and tapped his comm. link. “Clover, do you read?”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Are we set for departure?”
“Scoop is extended and ready.”
The young commander began taking long strides, picking up his pace quickly. “Excellent. Head for the bridge and start prep. I will be there in five.” Jack rounded corner after corner until he finally came upon the landing bay, finding Kate and Gina finishing up the unloading of their new cargo. Gina was the first to spot him and looked at him with confusion. He stared back at her for a moment before she finally spoke.
“Are we supposed to do that ‘Captain on deck’ shit?” she asked, wary of what his response would be.
He shook his head. “Hell no. Let’s keep our focus on our survival and keeping this old heap flying instead. Fair?”
“More than,” she replied. “Want a status report?”
“More than,” he said, laughing.
“Water and food stores, if rationed appropriately, are up to around ten weeks worth.” Kate jumped in. “We also got two crates of guns, so we’re set for close quarters fighting if need be. Doc brought medical supplies that ought to hold us for a bit of we can learn from our mistakes and avoid the machinery breaking apart and slicing our faces off.”
“Good to know,” Jack replied, lost in thought for a moment. Then, with a jerk, he snapped back to focus. “Gina, can you spare Kate for a few? I need to talk to her.”
Kate and Gina looked at each other for a moment, wondering what was coming, before Gina waived Kate away. Kate threw off the gloves she had been wearing and walked toward Jack, who immediately exited the landing bay with her in tow.
“What’s going on, Jack?” she asked, stopping him in his tracks. He spun on his heel, facing her with a look of pained resolution on his face.
He exhaled slowly. “Kate, what would it take to create a vaccine to your experiment?”
She looked at him, puzzled. “It’s really nothing to worry about, Jack. I mean, if it’s troubling you, I can flush it out an airlock right now. I suppose if we took a horrible beating, the stasis field could collapse, so you’re right, I probably should…”
“I’m not asking you to destroy it, Kate. Just make everyone on this ship safe from it.”
“Jack?”
He straightened himself, cracking his back and tugging at his uniform. “Like you said earlier, Kate- you’ve created a biological weapon.” His eyes flickered. “We may need it someday.”
“If we release it on Earth, it would kill almost every person on it, Jack! Humans included!”
“Then let’s hope it never comes to that,” he said, walking away and leaving a stunned Kate Stinson in his wake.
END PART ONE
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