Salvage by MJ Kobernus Read Free Book Online Page A

familiar. The same aroma of rubber and steel. But
there was a hint of something else too. Something not familiar.
    The airlock opened into a narrow
corridor, its once white walls now grey, several of its lighting
panels dimmed or broken. Noting the condition, Jensen felt his
fears for the people aboard the Argoss III mounting. No one had
been doing any maintenance for a very long time, it seemed.
    “Alright folkens, let’s get to
work.” He gestured to the Drive Techs who carried a crate between
them. “Finn and Cho. You two get moving. Find out what state the
main drive is in. The rest of us are heading for the control
centre.”
    The two drive techs nodded in
assent, lifting their heavy crate easily in the zero gee, and
headed down the corridor. Even though their names denoted a
familial heritage that could not have been more different, they
looked surprisingly similar. Both men were tall, with high
cheekbones and dark hair. Finn’s blue eyes spoke of his Norsk
roots, while Cho’s brown were rooted firmly in Shanxi province.
They moved at a steady pace, their boots providing solid traction
on the floor. Theirs was the longest journey, as they had to go
through the gen-pop section in the third sphere in order to get to
the engines, but there was a control station in section two that
could provide some answers first. They turned left at the junction
in the corridor without hesitation. They did not need to think
about where they were going. They were as familiar with the layout
of the Argoss as they were with the Bitter Sea. The colony ships
were all built identically, down to the last nut and bolt, even if
each did its own unique ‘flavour.’
    The great vessels had left Earth
in the wake of the Final Fall. They had maintained close
communications during the first generation, but after forty years,
the Argoss had gone quiet. It also maintained a longer and harder
acceleration program than the other three ships, so after many
decades it had pulled too far ahead to be tracked easily. And
though it was clear that it had not exploded, as had the luckless
Truman seventy years into their journey, it was equally certain
that something had gone catastrophically wrong.
    After eight generations, only
half the expected colonists had arrived safely at their new home, a
G star system with a Kepler classified Super-Earth Planetoid. But
this would be enough as each ship was fully capable of establishing
a colony on its own. However, the success potential of any
fledgling outpost increased with greater numbers. When Endurance
and Bitter Sea entered the Palsenz star system, there was much
celebration when the Argoss III was discovered to be waiting for
them in a geo-stationary orbit.
    Each of the giant ships had been
sponsored by a consortium of privately held companies with
cooperation from national groups on Earth. The Bitter Sea was a
joint Sino-Norsk enterprise, with lesser representation from
several other countries. As a result, most of the colonists on the
Bitter Sea had Eurasian features, with a prevalence for high
cheekbones and almond shaped eyes, even those with blonde hair. In
contrast, the Endurance was largely of North American manufacture,
with a large percentage of Southern American and a small minority
of central Europeans. The colonists aboard Endurance were much
darker in complexion, with a prevalence of brown eyes and darker
hair. The vision of a melting pot for humanity had become reality
only after its almost utter extinction.
    Officer Jensen began to lead the
group of engineers, technicians and computer operators on the long
march to the control centre, located in the third and most forward
section. The Heimdal had docked in the middle section, which
contained the engineering, hydroponics and various other support
industries. This was the heart of the great ark and it should have
been a hive of industry.
    The modular design always
reminded Jensen of pictures he had seen as a kid; a bulbous bug,
with a large