Raff and the Starship of Knowledge

Chapter 2 - The Saboteur and the Insane

© Copyrighted by Furryhart 11/07/2014 ©

Warning: This story contains some content of a mature nature!

Then the sphere entered into my dreams and I found myself onboard a strange, yet familiar, starship, with it hovering beside me. We traveled down a wide corridor with many mixed and wondrous races, including humanoid unicorns, like the Captain, walking about, but none of them seemed to see us. I was then lead to an elevator like device and we went down many levels to a dark open room with many cryogenic chambers. I found myself standing before a small one and seemed to be lifted up, until I could see inside through the frozen glass. To my horror, I saw myself inside and I screamed, coming up in my bed, panting hard and looked over at the sphere, as it hovered silently beside me. I then heard its melodious song and my fears went away, as it soothed my mind.

Then my com unit chimed up and I heard Mophit say urgently “Raff, please meet me in engineering. Marshal will meet you to show you the way.” I opened the door to my cabin to find Marshal already standing there, waiting for me and he said “Follow me, Raff, quickly.” I was lead down a narrow corridor, off the main corridor, to a large blast door. It opened up and Mophit was waiting there, inside and looked very troubled about something, saying “Raff the hyperspace engines have been tampered with and we cannot return to normal space. In twelve hours… we will be lost forever. This problem is beyond me, Raff, so the Captain suggested that I ask you to help me.” I looked at the readings and data that she had gathered on her control monitor and my eyes were drawn to a slight, almost undetectable anomaly in one of the readings.

I pointed to it and ask “Where is that reading coming from?” She looked at it and said “That’s coming from the temporal core, Raff, but you can’t get to it while we are in hyperspace. There are lethal charges, strong magnetic fields and time distortions in there that could fry you and tear you apart, the moment you entered the chamber.” I looked at the expanded readings, coming from the temporal core and an idea entered my mind and I said “Maybe it’s dangerous to you, but I’m not like any of you and I think I know what‘s going on.” She looked at Marshal and then back at me, with a worried look on her face and said “The Captain must approve it, I… I can’t take responsibility for your life, Raff.”

She went to another view screen and soon the Captains face appeared, she told her of my findings and told her what I wanted to do. The Captain looked over at me and said “Are you sure Raff?” I walked over to the screen and said “It is our only hope, Captain, in eleven hours we won’t have any choice, who lives or dies, I have to try, now.” She looked at Mophit and nodded and Mophit then lead me deep into engineering to the very heart of the ships engines. We came to small hatch and she yelled out among the thrumming engines “There are two hatches… never let both of them be open at the same time, or we will all parish in a giant fire ball! You also can’t take anything inside that’s metallic!” and she pointed to my micro-toolkit. I clutched it tightly and said “It’s non-magnetic and shielded! “ She nodded and then said “I have to leave you now, give me two minutes to get out! Good luck my friend!” and she looked at me for a long moment, as if wanting to say something else, hesitating to leave me. She then gave me a kiss on the cheek and turned and left quickly. I touched my cheek where she kissed me, waiting for two minutes and then opened the first hatch. Already I could feel the static current coursing through my body, as I stepped into the entrance chamber and closed the first hatch behind me. Then I braced myself for the full force of the burst, as I opened the second hatch.

Power, like I had never felt before, coursed through my body, as I entered the brightly lit temporal chamber, but so far, I could handle it. I closed the second hatch and made my way towards the temporal core. It consisted of two curved, mirrored, metal dishes facing each other, a temporal energy emitter and a collector with two temporal energy focusing coils above and below them. A small ball of temporal field energy was swirling around in between them, instead of flowing smoothly between the plates, like it was supposed to do. As I had thought, there was something attached to the collector disrupting the temporal energy fields flow. I could feel the effects of the ball of temporal energy, as it began to affect my body. It made me grow older and slowed me down to a crawl, as I approached the temporal core. However, so far, the healing effect of the current flowing through the chamber, was keeping me rejuvenated enough to keep on going. Then suddenly, as I got close to the collector, my eyes failed, blinded by the tremendous light inside the chamber. All I could see was a blinding blur and closed my eyes, against it.

However, by then, I knew where the object was and knew I was close enough to grab it, but when I did, I found it was somehow attached firmly to it. I reached for a tool out of my micro-toolkit and one seemed to jump into my paw hand. I used it, working it in between the object and the collector’s shiny metal surface. Then suddenly I was blown back by a tremendous blast, as the temporal field collapsed, hitting the wall of chamber hard and then falling to the floor, as the temporal core shut down. As I tried to lift myself up, I found that my hind legs were broken, but the object was still in my damaged paw hand. I then lifted myself up enough to open the hatch and drug myself into the entrance chamber and closed it behind me, beginning to feel faint. I managed to get the outer hatch open and just made it outside and shut it, before I collapsed to the deck, in tremendous pain and then passed out.

I drifted through time and space for what seemed an eternity and then my sight partially returned to me and I found myself in the infirmary, in a bed. I looked around and saw Doctor Sanders and tried to say something, but it came out ragged sounding and he looked over at me casually and then jumped up onto his feet, hitting the com unit, he was wearing on his chest and said “He’s awake!” Soon the infirmary was filled with much of crew and the Captain came up to me. I looked up at her and said weakly “Are we out of hyperspace, Captain?” and she tried to smile and said “Yes Raff, a little ahead of time, but we are recalculating the jump. Mophit checked out the temporal core and it is fully functional again, thanks to you.” and she then looked away. The Doctor whispered something into her ear and she lowered her head and began to cry.

I smiled, as best I could and said “What’s wrong Doc, am I dying?” She quickly got up and left the room and slowly, so did the others, except for Mophit. She sat down beside me on the bed looking very sad, tears flowing down her cheeks. I weakly raised what was left of my right paw hand and motioned for her to come closer and as she did so, I whispered something into her short round furred ears. She nodded excitedly, quickly jumping down onto the floor, leaving the room, coming back a little later with what I had asked her to bring me. Soon many warning alarms were going off in the infirmary and the crew finally burst in, after busting open the door, that Mophit had jammed shut. They found her lighting up my life, literally, with a portable power core, the one that I had seen in engineering earlier.

By the time they managed to grab her and turn off the power unit, I sat up in my smoking bed, removing the leads from myself. Completely healed now from head to paw and feeling really good, but smelling of burnt fur. I looked at them and said “What a russssh!” and the crew dog piled on me, not believing their eyes. Then the Captain came in and saw me and rushed to me, as the others stepped back. She threw her arms around me and said “Oh Raff, I’m so happy!” and then we looked at each other and then at the others, who were smiling broadly at us. We quickly separated and she cleared her throat, as she straightened her now soot covered uniform and tried to get back to business, saying “Good to have you back Raff. Alright crew we have a jump in two hours, make preparations.”

Everyone left and as Mophit was leaving the room I called to her and said “Thankssss my good friend.” and she smiled and nodded saying “Thank you for risking your life and saving us, Raff. You are a hero… to me.” and she blew me a kiss and turned, stepping out the broken door. I laid there on the charred bed and stretched out, feeling as if I had finally found where I belonged. But something was still bugged me, “How did a device like that find its way into the temporal core and why had no one said anything about finding it on me when they found me laying on the deck?” I needed to find out, before that person has a chance to sabotage us again. I slept through the jump and regained my strength, not troubled by the bad dreams, for now. When I finally awoke, Doctor Sanders was sitting at his desk taking notes and he told me, we were already back into hyperspace.

I got out of bed and walked up to him and said “Doctor Sanders, when I was brought in, was there anything in my paw hand or found on the floor around me, where I was picked up?” He looked down at me and said “Not that I’m was aware of, Raff, but actually there wasn’t much of your paw hands left to be holding anything and there was nothing on your body, when you were brought into the infirmary.” A sudden chill hit me and I looked myself over and found my micro-toolkit was missing!! I looked at the Doc and said panicking and losing my mind “Where is it?!… It’s never been out of my sight! I need it… NOW!!” and started tearing the place up, looking for it in a mad panic. He tried to calm me down, but I just growled menacingly at him and left the infirmary. I headed towards engineering, but was stopped by Jamar, who said “Halt Raff, I don’t want to have to hurt you, stand down.” But, as I tried to push past him, he grabbed me and the next thing I knew he was flying away from me, hitting the deck hard, as I just simply pushed him away from me, sending an electric charge through him. I looked at my smoldering hand, with a wicked grin and then continued to engineering. The blast door was closed, locked down tight and I began banging hard on it, actually denting it, a bit, as I yelled, quite insanely “GIVE ME MY MICRO-TOOLKIT!!!”

Then something then hit me hard from behind and I slumped to the ground unconscious. I awoke later in a small bright white room and found myself laying on a bench, in a straitjacket and I growled viciously, trying to free myself. Then I heard over the intercom a gentle feminine voice say “Now Raff, please calm yourself. We will find your micro-toolkit.” I looked to my right and saw the Captain standing there, behind a thick protective glass and growled out “Find my micro-toolkit… and you’ll find the saboteur… and the device they planted, trying to stop you!” I slipping off the bench and stood up, walking over to her slowly, beginning to snicker, as I felt the straightjacket begin to loosen up, saying slyly “But they were deceived too… by those, they are working for… the device was not made to do… what they told them it did.” and I threw my head back and laughed insanely, feeling the straightjacket loosen even more and continued “They had told them that it was supposed to prevent the hyperspace engines from engaging… and let the battle cruiser catch us.”

I backed up against the wall, as the straitjacket broke opened and slid down to the floor, looking up at her, smiling wickedly and said “What it almost did and had been made to do was… KILL US ALL… them included!… NO!… LOOSE!!… ENDS!!!” She backed away from the glass, as I pulled off the straitjacket and threw it to the floor, beginning to laugh profusely, rolling around on the floor, as I seemed to be losing my mind. She placed her hands over her muzzle and quickly turned to leave. As she did, I sat up and said quite calmly “Please have Mophit come here and talk to me, I need to talk to her, right now, about something.” and I looked up at her imploringly and she looked back at me sadly and nodded, then turned and left quickly.

Sometime later Mophit came in, looking warily at me and said “Y… You Ok Raff?” I smiled and nodded, saying calmly “As well I can be without my micro-toolkit. They don’t understand… it’s a big part of me… without it I feel… lost… angry… and afraid… I have never been without it. But you are the only one I can trust right now, because I know you did not do it.” She looked at me quizzically and said “Do what… steal your micro-toolkit.” I shook my head and said “No… but I know you didn’t do that either. I mean… sabotage your engines, Mophit!” She sat down in a chair and said “Sabotage… my engines? Who?” I shook my head and said “I don’t know yet, but they thought I was going to die and stole my micro-toolkit, hoping the sphere was inside of it, but it is still inside my cabin. You helped me to live, so I know for sure, it wasn’t you.”

She looked at me, getting up and walking up to the glass, a tear flowed down her cheek and she said “I could never hurt you, Raff and I was more than happy to help you live... I think I’m in love you.” I looked at her, in surprise and she placed her paw hand on the glass. I looked at it a moment and then slowly raised my paw hand, placing it over hers, on the glass, and then she smiled happily. Then the glass slid aside and we hugged each other and I heard her say “We need to get to your cabin, fast.” I looked at her and said “Aren’t you going a bit too fast?” She giggled and said “No, I didn’t mean for that… I think someone will soon be trying to get inside there, to fine the sphere.” I blushed and said “Oh sorry… let’s go.” and started to go out of the main door, but she stopped me and said “If you go that way, they will try to stop you. There is a more secret way to get into your cabin, then that.” and she opened an access panel and we climbed inside and she then closed it behind us.

My cabin was dark, when someone suddenly opened my door and they slipped inside quickly and the door closed behind them. The sphere hovered, humming softly on my bed, right where I had left it. They slowly walked toward it and reached over my bed to take it and their hand passed right through it. The lights came up and Reva Salean, the ship’s communication expert, covered her eyes and saw Mophit and me moving behind her, blocking her way out. Mophit was holding a small holographic-projector, with a stunned look on her face and said “Reva?!” Reva quickly grabbed my lightning stick off my bed, switching it on and turned toward us, saying “Alright you two, move aside!” I pushed Mophit back and slowly moved toward her, saying arrogantly “What are you going to do with that, Reva… SHOCK ME!… Oh that’s right… you weren’t present when Mophit saved my life were you. Where were you, Reva… in your cabin trying to open my micro-toolkit… that you STOLE FROM ME?!” I jumped at her, as she hit me with the lightning stick and then wound up shocking us both, as I grabbed onto it and held onto her tightly, grinning wickedly into her astonished face.

She fell back on the ground, with me on top of her, her body shaking violently, when the door to my cabin swished open to reveal the Captain, Jamar and Martial standing there armed and I raised my hands, dropping my lightning stick and stepping back, off of Reva. The Captain walked in and looked at Mophit angrily and said “Mophit what is going on here… and why is he out of detention?” Mophit looked at me and then at Reva and said “We figured out that someone would be coming here to get the sphere and we set a trap for them. But I didn‘t expect to find out it was Reva, I trusted her and had just given her a tour of my hyperspace engines, just before we lifted off. I was called away for only a moment, but she had plenty of time to place that device in the temporal chamber.” I looked at the Captain and said “That’s why I am here. When the saboteur could not find the sphere inside my micro-toolkit, that they had stolen from me, Mophit figured out that the saboteur would come here to find it. Mophit had also told me on the way here, that you had only very recently taken off the security seal on my door, after my shocking recovery.” and I smiled at her.

Jamar and Marshal pulled Reva to her feet, still dazed and looked at the Captain. She nodded and then they cuffed her and took her away. I looked up at the Captain, holding up my paw hands for her to cuff me and said “If you will be so kind, as to search her cabin for my micro-toolkit, I will have Mophit return me to my cell, before I go completely insane. You will also find a temporal displacer unit, I believe, along with it.” The Captain smiled and said “You mean you weren’t insane before we found you.” and I shrugged my shoulders and smiled, then she added, gently pushing my hands down “Don’t worry I will have it brought to you, when we find it. Someone else will be occupying your cell, after I have some heated words with her.” She then turned and left, the door closing silently behind her, leaving us all alone. Mophit and I looked at each other for a moment and then I walked up to her, placing my arms around her and said “Now what was that, you were trying to say to me, back at my cell.” She then preceded to spend the next several hours, in my bed and then in my shower, showing me, as we got to know each other much better. Then we happily slept together, in each other’s loving arms, for several more hours, totally exhausted and my dreams were now filled only with her.

We awoke in my bed, still in each other arms, as a general call went out for all hands to man their stations for reentry into normal space. She kissed me deeply and then jumped spryly out of my bed, saying “I have to go to my station now, Raff, take care.” and she then turned and walked out of my door, humming to herself. I laid back in my bed for a long moment, warm in the knowledge that I truly HAD found my new home. I then got up and made my way to the bridge, with a bounce in my step and a broad smile on my furred little muzzle. As the door swished open, the Captain turn in her chair toward me and said in surprise “Raff you don’t need to be on the bridge. You should stay in your cabin and get some rest, to recover your wits. Oh yes, by the way, speaking of that… here.” and she held up my micro-toolkit.

I quickly grabbed it and held it to my chest, hugging it like a lost child and said “YES… THANK YOU CAPTAIN!” and jumped up in her lap and kissed her firmly on her lips. She looked at me in shock, at first and then hugged me and said “I like you Raff, very much, but please get out of my lap.” I looked at her and then at the others, who were looking at us, smiling broadly again. I jumped down, clearing my throat and said “Sorry Captain, I just couldn’t help myself, I am just so happy to get my micro-toolkit back.” She giggled and said “I’m sure… by the way… we also found what you said we would… good work. Now please go and help Mophit.” I looked around the bridge and its crew, feeling like I truly belonged here and turned to look at the Captain.

I then slung my micro-toolkit over my shoulder, dutifully and said “I really think I would serve you and this ship better, here on the bridge, Captain, if it pleases you.” She looked at me a while and said “Do you feel up to it, Raff? You’ve been under a lot of pressure lately and have been going through a lot.” I looked at her smiling broadly and nodded, saying “I‘m feeling really great right now, Captain.” She looked me over and said “You do seem quite calm and relaxed for some reason… Ok, take station seven, Mr. Raff. It’s only a science and observation station, but you can monitor any ships function, or sensors, from it. Then for the first time, I sat at my new station and looked it over. I then began to operate it like I had always used one, before I realized it. I stopped and looked at my hands, as if they belong to someone else, realizing I must have operated something like this before… but how could that be, I wondered. I opened my micro-toolkit, retrieving the sphere and set it on the console next to me, for comfort, as we prepared to return to normal space.