“Alright, somebody talk to me. What happened?”
A veritable chorus erupted as everyone began talking over everyone else. My fault. That’s on me.
“Spencer!” I cut in. “Why aren’t we moving?”
“Well, Mark—”
“I’m not talking to Mark. Why are we dead in the water?”
He began reciting what seemed a litany to me of technical jargon I could barely grasp. I actually began to miss the captain as the engineer drained my soul away.
He was slowing down, and I interjected a question:
“So we’re locked out of our own ship?”
“In essence.”
“Mark!” I barked. Mark glowered. “Engineering says they are locked out? Why can’t they use the computers?”
“I don’t know,” was his taciturn answer.
“Their security codes aren’t working.”
“So they say.”
“You’re in charge of security.”
“My codes won’t work either.”
“Won’t?” I harp. “So you haven’t tried.”
“I’ve tried to tell you and Spencer, sir, that the captain locked us all out. I don’t have clearance to open my own door.”
“Where’s the plasma cutting crew?” I asked. “Nevermind,” I said. “Just, Mark’s priority right now. If the captain locked him in, I want him out. Somebody get on that.”
Tale Told 