Surviving The Theseus by Randy Noble

could, ever happen, because the matchstick
markers have always been so reliable, including the devices in
ships that linked with them.
    “Michael’s right,” George said. “They would
have to be very far away for us not to pick them up, unless there
is no signal to pick up at all.”
    Cindy looked down at the floor, hoping for
inspiration by taking her eyes away from the others. No good. She
looked back up at her controls, and then caught a read out of the
ship’s engine power, which was on stand-by -- not quite shutdown,
but close, and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Then it hit
her.
    “The engines,” Cindy said.
    Everyone looked at her, saying nothing.
    “The engines,” she said again. “I took it in
SPARS training. Every engine has a specific signature, which makes
it unique, even the exact same model of engine.”
    “Jesus Christ,” George said, and then he
shook his head. “I must be getting too old. Thirty-eight years as a
SPARS officer, and I’ve never had to track a lost ship.” He nodded
at Cindy.
    Mary stood with a stunned look on her face
and then managed a weak smile.
    Michael beamed at her, and she could have
hugged him right then. “Outsmarted by a niner,” Michael said.
“Could be worse, you could have been a rank of ten. Great job,
Cindy. I don’t think we would have come up with that, or it would
have taken awhile.”
    “Well,” Mary said, “she did just take
training very recently, and that must be new on the curriculum
because it was never mentioned in lectures or in any books covered
previously.”
    George cleared his throat loudly. Mary shut
up.
    Michael got on a communications link with
Pyramid Cruise Lines, and after several minutes, they received a
data packet of Pyramid One’s engine signature, which the company
recorded on the ship’s test runs.
    “Just give me a second here,” Michael said,
as he quickly maneuvered through the menu system on his display.
“Got it. The signal is set and I’m scanning.”
    Small sensors all over the ship’s outer hull
simultaneously scanned the 360 degrees of blackness around them.
The three dimensional screen in front of Michael was a frenzy of
stars appearing and disappearing very quickly.
    After a few seconds, the stars stopped their
dance and the path revealed, showing them the engine trail of
Pyramid One as a thin line. “Locking it in,” Michael said as he
brought up a command line on another screen beside the star screen,
and started typing in commands. “I’ve locked our guidance system to
Pyramid One’s path, at accelerated rate. We should catch up to them
no problem. Should I engage?”
    George pondered for a second as Mary left the
cockpit without a word. “Cindy, I want you to radio in our current
location at this marker, the direction we’re headed, and give them
the engine signature of Pyramid One. And call in for some back up.
Under the circumstances, they’ll send at least one more ship, but
ask for more. Tell them to contact Pyramid Cruise Lines and get a
calculation of the number of ships necessary to pull it to a stop.
If they give you any flack, call me in and I’ll talk with
them.”
    “Yes, sir,” Cindy said.
    “Once Cindy has sent communication, Michael,
pursue. Let me know when we are in range.” George left Cindy and
Michael to their duties.
    For the next three hours, Cindy studied her
device, no more mind wanderings. She felt empowered by her
assistance to the team but didn’t want it to go to her head and
drop the ball on something more important. From time to time, she
would look up and see what Michael was doing. He also studied
intently, like herself.
    Cindy’s eyes started to get heavy so she
forced a couple of yawns, brought a hand up to rub against her
stubbly head, and that’s when a beep went off, notifying Cindy and
Michael that they were near their target. Several more beeps went
off as they got closer. Michael looked over at Cindy, and without a
word, she got up and left the cockpit,