FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

CURSE OF THE MURPHANZA

A Rough Start

From a distance the S.S. Murphanza looked ominous. Up close she was 70 thousand cubic yards of freighter looking old and tired. The dockside crews had taken to calling her the Murphy.

A handsome Tarrian wolf watched as each rack of androids and crates of miscellaneous cargo were loaded. She made be old and battered, but the ship was his...at least for the trip. Being the only living soul on board an automated ship might not sound like much of a command, but he'd worked ten years getting it. On board her he was Captain. His employers promised that after three runs, he would be given command of a high tech cruise ship. He was excited and trying not to show it.

One of the Dock Wheel's administrators approached, "Sir, you are going to want to keep this handy. It is an emergency shut-down for your android cargo. Let's see... 150 heavy construction, 500 medium workers and 2000 service. Yeah, I bet they'll service."

"Now we are going to need you to palm verify yourself, then sign and initial several places."

The wolf pressed his palm to the tablet and a green light lit. He examined the forms and realized that there were over a hundred items. He sat down on a crate, set the Shut Down beside him and got to work.

Finally! Everything was done and he could board his ship.

John filed the manifest papers and started the prelaunch. He placed his palm on the bio scanner, verifying the palm print and resonance frequency of the crystal embed in his hand. At the green Command light he sighed. Slowly the ship's systems came to life. He ran through the full sequence and then engaged the automatic launch cycle. He started the cycle for the main engines.

He was free of the station and quickly under thrust. It was really happening.

John and the computer plotted each leg of the journey. The computer would notify him as they approached each marker. It looked like two weeks to destination, two days for cargo transfer and two weeks back. Now that he was well underway he was feeling hungry and went to the galley.

He was surprised by the quality of dishes to choose from. Prime rib dinner in hand, he checked the computer. He went through his checklist and recorded his first Captain's Log, before heading to his bunk. He knew that there would be long stretches with nothing to do so he had loaded several books and holo's.

At 08:20 his alarm went off and he woke up with a start. He could have sworn that he had set it to go off at 7:00 am. Maybe there was something wrong with the clock. If the ship's clocks were not working correctly he could end up way off course. It could also be a problem with the computer so he pulled out the hard copies and began to troubleshoot. He wondered how many people alive had ever held an old-style 'turn the pages' book? Shaking his head, he focused.

Every item checked off as running properly. Not one yellow or red anywhere. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the chronometer. According to the records the ship's computer had corrected his wake up time automatically. He thought it a bit odd. After double checking the course time markers, he shrugged his shoulders and moved on. Sitting in the captain's seat, John decided to check previous trips for similar glitches. What he found did nothing to reassure him. The Captain's Logs of the previous two voyages had been finished by the ships computer. The ship had arrived at its destinations on autopilot, and the automatic docking sequence had been completed. There was no record of what had happened to the previous two captains.

He sat back and stared at the logs. Why hadn't he been told?

Over the next few days, Captain John would see several anomalous events in the ships' automatic sequences. Nothing that would be of any danger, just a little off for some reason.

Eleven days out, he awoke and found that the computer had failed to notify him of a needed course correction. The gravitational pull of a large gas giant had then pulled the ship off course and Murphy was now headed dangerously close to the system's sun, and the radiation shields were down.

He scanned his palm, "Record Captain's Log. Disengage main computer, engage secondary computer. Calculate course corrections pending captain's approval. Secondary objective, diagnose main computer and systems. Report any failures and damage."

He calculated the corrections with the back-up computer, and decided to use the planet's gravity well to swing close and slingshot towards the previous course. If he swung her about he could use the same planet's gravity to slingshot her back on course.

This, he thought to himself, this is what it means to be a captain. His excitement grew and he was proud of how calmly he was dealing with his first real crisis. He would only lose a day. He thought that if he increased the power to the engines he could actually get there ahead of schedule.

John Beemer, took manual control with computer assist and began the slow swing in. The slingshot maneuver took several hours and his eyes and hands never left the controls. His speed had increased but was still not enough. He knew that each hour the cargo was late being delivered to the clients on the mining colony, his employers would lose money on the contract. He was watching his dreams fall to pieces. He increased the power to the engines to accelerate and compensate. That brief burst saved him. As the main engines increased acceleration, the ship trembled. Lights and alarms lit up the boards. One of the fuel compression units had exploded and fuel was being lost to space. He used the Command override, and forced valve system to shut down the leak, but was unable to restart the engines. He cursed a few times and decided that he had better check out the damage. Following the book, he put on the EVA suit and headed aft.

There was a large hole in the side of the starboard passageway. He realized that this was not something he would be able to repair. His pride deflated and began to turn to worry.

He started to make an entry in the log, but an entry was already there.

It read more like a series of course corrections and some data on the loss of fuel and damage to the ship. Using the thrusters he turned the ship and watched as the computer made an entry for another course correction. Even though the momentum had him traveling in the right direction the ship had slowed and would now arrive at his destination three days late. Captain John was starting to stress and could feel the tension building in his shoulders.

A second explosion resulting in the loss of atmosphere caused the ship to drift. Captain John knew that he was in trouble. As long as the command center of the large freighter did not lose life support, he believed that he was alright.

"Alpha station, this is the SS Murphanza, I am declaring an emergency. Transmitting logs and current location." He knew that it would be a few hours before he would receive a response. All he could do was wait. This made him even more anxious and he started to pace.

He secured the main deck of the bridge and his quarters from the rest of the ship.

Four and half hours later he received a response.

"SS Murphanza, we received your emergency declaration. We are dispatching a rescue and repair ship. Be advised that the Grand Lupis is in route with an ETA of 56 hours."

Captain John listened to the transmission and hit the button to acknowledge.

Two hours later he received another transmission.

"SS Murphanza, this is the SS Princess Volley, we are only 40 hours away from your location, do you require evacuation?" Captain John smiled that another ship would offer to help.

"SS Princess Volley, This is the Murphanza, thank you for your offer but I am fine for now.

Nothing important on board, just a load of androids bound for the mining colony on P-7."

The androids would auto activate in 20 hours. He was unsure what would happen if he was not in port yet. He remembered the emergency shut off and checked everywhere that he might have put the little box, suddenly remembering setting it on the crate back on the pier.

"SS Murphanza, this is the Princess Volley. We will reach your position in 39 hours, you may be in danger from the androids you are carrying! Please respond! We have altered course and are headed in your direction."

Captain John received the transmission and listened to it twice.

"What the heck does he mean danger? They are just androids, what danger could they pose?"

He checked his watch against the chronometers.

"Crud! Those things will activate in 16 hours." He was getting nervous and talking to himself.

He went to the galley and had a good meal, this time wondering if it would be his last.

Captain John returned to the bridge of the Murphanza and noted the blinking light indicating receipt of an urgent transmission. He hit the button and listened to the message.

"Captain of the Murphanza, this is the Captain of the Princess Volley, Please listen carefully.

The androids you are carrying will auto-activate in just a few hours. The construction androids will roam the ship until they find the damaged section. Once they find it they will start to tear apart your ship's good sections to repair the damage. But the worst part is that you are carrying 2000 S-class androids.

These are not service units, they are Sex androids! They are programmed to use any means to locate any humanoid life form and pleasure them. The usual program requires that they do this within two hours of activating. If they are unable to, then every fifteen minutes they up the priority to do so.

You have to get off of that ship! Please respond! According to the galactic chronometer you will have less than ten hours by the time you receive this transmission!"

Captain John thought for a minute and decided to seal all of the space doors on the ship. He hoped that he could buy enough time for them to get there. He checked the emergency escape pod and discovered that it would not work. It was flashing red, the atmospheric replenishment tanks were empty. He checked the tanks and found that they were the same as the ones in his quarters.

Grabbing the tool box from the locker, John headed for his quarters.

After closing the valves on the tanks, he reached for the adjustable spanner, it was rusted and frozen in a position too small for the nuts on the tanks. Out of frustration, he pounded it against the bulkhead until the spanner wheel came free. He then started to take apart the tanks and haul them one at a time to the escape pod. Giving up on the ships' clocks, John kept looking at his wrist watch. Only five hours left. According to the manuals, it would take at least six to replenish the tanks. Since the actual tanks were on the outside of the escape pod he could not just change them. He started the process and within the hour he was able to open the valves and start the pumps. He made an entry in the ships log, while he waited for the tanks to do their thing.

At the two hour mark, one of the seals on the tanks came loose and he had to shut the valve and repair it. He checked his watch again. Only an hour left. The lights on the forward panel indicated that he was receiving another transmission.

"Princess Volley to the Murphanza, I hope that you are not there to respond, but if you are then why have you not left that ship?" Captain john had the tanks hooked up again and restarted the pumps.

He went over to the com panel and almost shouted his response.

"The escape pod was non-operational. I am attempting to repair it but repairs will take another two hours. I have sealed all the space doors and..." He was hearing a strange noise. The androids had

activated early. He could hear the sounds of the construction androids tearing apart the bulkhead doors for the materials to do the repairs. He checked the monitors and saw what looked like a large crowd of gorgeous females headed up the passage way towards the bridge. They seemed to be guiding one of the construction androids. It became clear that they were directing it to dismantle each of the space doors keeping them away from him.

"Oh Crud!" He went back to the com panel.

"The androids have already activated. They are using the construction android to take apart the doors.

I am trying to get the pod working. I will activate the emergency signal as soon as I launch."

He hit the transmission button and went back to check on the tanks.

According to the plans for the ship there were seven more doors that they would have to get through before they could get to him. He had calculated that it would take them at least ten minutes to open each door. He would launch when the tanks reached seventy percent and the safety locks would disengage. It became all too clear that his calculations were a bit off when he heard the clanging and could see the laser arc that was cutting through the doors in the outer bridge. He checked the monitors and saw that the Androids had gone towards his quarters first and hoped that it would buy him a few more second. Only two doors left and the tanks read 67 percent. The androids had not located him in his quarters and now had the construction android working on the next to the last door.

"Come on, Come on!" He checked the reading again 68.5 percent. He could now see the Laser arc on the last door. It was only a matter of seconds now. 69.4 percent. He ran for the escape pod and jumped in. He hit the button to close door, and heard the final hatch falling to the floor.

He hit the launch button. John knew that since he had left the ship the SS Murphanza would become salvage. He spent the next few hours in despair as he thought this might just end his career.

"I'll probably get a medal for the shortest commission of all time!" Several hours later he heard the clank and felt the tug of a grappler. The captain believed that he was safe.