The Juggernaut (Juggernaut #1)

Twelve

The cabin was a standard commercial design. It was practical, efficient, and entirely lacking in imagination.

Two chairs, once white and new but now covered in the same fine dark powder as everything else, sat before a cracked command console which filled the width of the cabin. The three-paned view-port had smashed open when the ship had been wedged into its final home.

The impact had crushed and twisted the nose of the hauler. Evidently, an air-tight seal still existed somewhere or the cabin would have de-pressurised and they would all be breathing vacuum by now. Even deep inside the city people had to be alert to leaks.

What remained was damp and surprisingly cold, most likely the result of an old coolant leak nearby.

The madescent air chilled them through their clothes and made dusty surfaces become grime to the touch.

The moist atmosphere had corroded any wiring exposed by the impact. Broken electronics hung from the underside of the console. A myriad of electronic and mechanical crumbs littered the dirty floor.

Malachi dropped into the pilot seat and blew hard at the dirt covering the controls. Only a few particles danced free from the damp film which trapped them on the glass and metal surfaces.

Tila surveyed the scene with doubt. "Nina was right, someone did get here before us after all."

"They can't have," said Malachi. "The hatch was sealed. We must be first."

"So why is it such a wreck?" asked Ellie as she poked her head into the room. Her breath misted faintly in the chill air.

"I don't know, but not all of this damage was accidental." He waved a hand over the console. "Maybe the screens, but not this."

Tila slumped into the co-pilot seat. She didn't know what she had expected to find here. Part of her fantasised about opening the door and finding all the answers she wanted neatly wrapped up and awaiting her arrival, but life was rarely so accommodating. Even so, she had hoped for more than a battered old cabin that had been squeezed into the pock-ravaged skin of the Juggernaut.

It's not like anyone could even have piloted the ship in here, she thought. The ship had simply been forced into a hole to be forgotten.

Ellie and Malachi were by this time deep in the underside of the main flight console. Tila could tell what they were doing from the noises. She heard Malachi pushing through a mass of dangling wires, then call for Ellie's flashlight. They swapped places. Malachi passed Ellie a tool and directed her smaller hands in some task his own hands were too big for.

She heard wires being snipped. Then a component of some kind, unrecognisable to Tila, appeared on the floor next to her.

"Keep this," said Malachi.

She picked it up and placed it on the empty seat beside her. She heard another snip, then a tearing sound as Malachi or Ellie ripped something free from the console. This appeared on the floor too.

"Junk," said Malachi.

Tila placed this on the chair, too. Over the next few minutes more things appeared. Malachi said "keep it", or "junk it", and Tila placed it in the correct pile. Malachi was obviously taking care with the items he wanted to keep. That pile of components had been neatly trimmed away from their housings. The items he didn't want had simply been ripped out to make room.

Tila stared blankly at the heap of discarded electronics. Frayed wires sprouted from each item like a rooting seed. Like her, they were useless now. Malachi and Ellie were doing the work. She just had to sit here and wait. She half-smiled to herself. Hopefully I have more to offer than a frayed wire, she thought.

She dragged a fingertip over the filthy console without realising she was tracing out letters.

"How did this place get so dirty, anyway? It hasn't been here long, and it doesn't look that old," she asked.

Malachi's hand appeared from underneath the console and his fingers wiped through the dirt. The hand vanished again. Malachi sniffed the dirt and rubbed the residue between finger and thumb. "It looks mineral to me. Maybe this was hauling rocks or soil? It gets everywhere if the crew are sloppy. All these surfaces should be sealed during normal operations." He threw an old rag at her leg. "Here, use this, and see what else you can find in there."

Tila wiped the worst of the dirt from her fingers as Malachi returned to his work. In truth, there wasn't much to see. The row of small lockers at the back were empty. Any items in there had been removed long ago.

The first-aid kit was gone, which was a shame. Medical supplies of any kind were always in demand. Even the fire extinguishers had been removed from their bright orange plinths. The high visibility signs above them pointed to nothing.

Tila used the rag to wipe the console clean for something to do, grateful that some things were as simple as they appeared. The dirt gave way to reveal the perfectly smooth glass surface beneath. Almost perfectly smooth. Her actions revealed a shallow, oval indentation at the top of the console. At each side was an empty screw hole. They even took the name badge.

"Ow!" Malachi's exclamation jolted Tila from her thoughts.

Ellie pulled her head out of the console desk. "You okay?" she asked.

"It's nothing, just a sharp edge."

"Let me look," said Tila.

Malachi rolled his eyes at her concern. "It's nothing. Really. Look, see? Just a little cut." He presented his wound with a flourish.

He was right, it was just a minor cut. Mollified, Tila sat back in her chair. Just a little cut. The thought gnawed at her brain. She mentally shook her head to clear her mind.

"What are you going to do with those?" She pointed at the pile of broken electronics with her toe.

"That's what I asked him," said Ellie. She stood and stretched to work out the kinks that had developed in the cramped workspace.

"No, you asked what was I going to do with all this junk," accused Malachi.

"Same difference."

The familiar sound of good-natured banter between her friends relaxed Tila. "So, what is it for?" she repeated.

"Some are spares, some are just for fun," said Malachi.

"Isn't this too old to be useful?"

"Some of this tech is less than fifteen years old. We're getting by with parts much older than this. We couldn't buy this tech in the city. It's not like anyone cuts their prices for us."

Tila frowned. That word again. It wanted attention. "Be honest with me, Mal, do you think this ship came from the colony mission?"