The Madman's Clock

Chapter 11

She stood perfectly straight, her arms folded behind her, hands in exactly the proper parade-rest position. She stood rigidly still, like her yeoman. Her deep blue eyes caught the lights from the displays all around her, and it gave her glare an odd quality, almost scary. Then she dipped her head, and the brim of her cap hid her eyes. Her long, black pony-tail swayed slightly as she turned her head. Like everyone else on the bridge, she barely moved. Her face was expressionless.

"Captain," McGowan said as he stopped us just short of the raised platform. "Ma'am, this is Marine Captain Mallory."

Captain Paetkau turned to look at me. Her head turned slowly, her eyes hidden behind the brim of her cap. Only her head moved, first to her right so she could look at me, and then upward as she looked me over. When she finally made eye contact, I involuntarily held my breath. There was something very uncomfortable about the way she interrogated me with her eyes, an almost sinister, stabbing glare to her gaze. I did my best to hold my own. She slowly turned her head back toward the main display.

Her words came out very slowly. "Senior Chief, you and your men are dismissed."

"Ma'am," he started, but caught himself, obviously thinking better of his argument. "Yes, ma'am."

Once our escorts had left the bridge, the Captain continued. "Security has forwarded me your orders, and I have read them, Mister Mallory."

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Your presence aboard the Saturnus is unnecessary," she continued in her slow, plodding pace. "Admiral Bishop is wrong. There are no intruders, and no problems with the core."

"Captain," I started, but she cut me off.

"Everything is fine. This experiment will go ahead. I have my orders." Her words were calm, mechanical.

I shook my head. "Captain, the orders I carry require you to listen to my assessment of the ship's condition. My team and I have been aboard for several hours, and I am here to make my report."

"I do not recall being made aware of your arrival, Captain," she said. "You have been aboard my vessel for hours, and yet only now are you reporting to me? I am unsure how things are done in the Marines, but in the Navy you are expected report immediately. I could put you in the brig for much less."

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am. And if you'll permit me to continue, I am prepared to explain that."

She continued gazing into the display ahead of her, not once looking at us, not even out of the corner of her eye. The console in front of her projected its light onto her face, giving her a blue and green tint. For a moment, I felt as though she had forgotten I was there. I was about to clear my throat when she spoke.

"Continue," was all she said.

I did my best to explain to her what was happening aboard her ship. I started with Admiral Bishop's briefing, followed by our near-miss on the needle-jumper. I explained what I saw in the forward sections, aged four months beyond her time frame. I explained the hellish conditions in engineering, and the tomb-like state of the core chamber. I told her about the Edra. The only thing I left out was my knowledge of the nature of the temporal core itself. That, and my body. I left that out.

While I spoke, David and Kyle slowly moved to a nearby console. I saw that David was trying to chat up one of the crew, asking her about the wormhole displays in front of her. She just stared ahead, not seeming to notice him at all. He passed his hand in front of her eyes, but she didn't even blink. Kyle did the same to another nearby crewmen, with exactly the same result.