The Tiny Vampire From Outer Space That’s Bitey XXII: Deep Space Space Station (Shadow Conn Tiny Vampire Book 22)
Marcus has had it with the Space Agency and the flying chunk of experimental metal they said was a fully-functioning, state-of-the-art spaceship. The ship has had nothing but problems, and the Space Agency has done nothing but try to strand them out in deep space. Marcus is beyond angry, and he will do something about the Space Agency and Area 51 with Shadow, Alera, Oliver, Lucia and Captain George's help.
Chapter 1 – Enroute to the Deep Space Station
Marcus looked at the viewscreen in front of him. He was on the bridge monibut there’s no rush,” Marcus said.
They annihilated the food.
Marcus looked at Shadow. “Did you not explode a bloodcake?”
“I ate them gently,” Shadow said.
“That’s not like you,” Marcus said. He started to ask if she was feeling alright when she stood.toring the ship because Mark wanted a night off. Marcus understood completely, and it was fair. Marcus got to spend a significant amount of time on Umbra. Mark had spent less than a night on their home planet, so Marcus decided to give him a night off. The first officer wasn’t off, but he wasn’t on the bridge either. Marcus had sent him downstairs to cover for security while those officers had dinner and most of the crew switched to the overnight shift. Jake wouldn’t have to stay on the security level for long. Just a couple hours. Marcus, on the other hand, was trapped on the bridge all night.
It really wasn’t that bad. Marcus liked watching the stars and suns and planets as they zoomed by, and they’d gotten the viewscreen to slow down so that you could actually view everything. It simply jumped ahead every couple of minutes. The scanners on the ship were more efficient in that regard. They could scan and analyze at the speed the ship was traveling. The viewscreen, however, was delayed, and if they hadn’t delayed it, they’d be watching a blur. Marcus was certain it’d be headache-inducing.
Shadow was shopping with Lucia and Alera. Marcus figured she’d make her way up to the bridge later in the evening, once she’d bought out most of the stores.
Their estimated time en route to the space station was four months, but the engines weren’t yet spooled to full speed. Marcus expected that time to decrease, but there was no way of knowing by how much.
So far, everything seemed to be functioning properly. Mark had said that there were no problems while they were at Umbra. That was a relief. Even after personally overseeing the deletion of that hostile program, Marcus hadn’t been convinced that it’d been fully deleted.
Right now, everything appeared to be fine.
“Any anomalies?” Marcus asked.
“None so far,” the helmsman said. “It's been pretty smooth. It was smooth at the planet too.”
“You had no problems while we were down on the surface?” Marcus asked.
“None with the instruments. Those crewmen that we stuck in the brig were another story,” the helmsman said.
“I haven’t read that report yet,” Marcus said.
“They used a dinner break to take off a panel. Well, one of them did. He made it into the hall before he was caught,” the helmsman said. “I’m not sure where he thought he was going.”
Marcus contemplated. “Neither am I. I suppose he could have stolen a shuttle, but there’s nothing out here except vampire planets that are running out of food.”
“I didn’t think it was too terribly safe out here in this galaxy,” the helmsman said.
“Not for living creatures,” Marcus said. “If they catch one of you, you’ll just become food. If they catch two of you, you’ll be put into a food breeding program.”
“None of that sounds pleasant, but he earned himself a place in a stasis chamber,” the helmsman said.
“So, he’ll be asleep for the duration of the trip,” Marcus said.
“It’s worse than that. Our stasis chambers are cold-storage technology,” the helmsman said. “When he’s woken up, he’ll be miserably cold, and it takes about three days to warm up.”
“Serves him right for trying to escape,” Marcus said.
The helmsman nodded. “We’ve got three months to the space station now.”
“Those engines seem to be getting faster,” Marcus said.
“I don’t know what it is. When we first took off, they were at 80 percent efficiency, according to the computer. Now, it’s 90 percent,” he said.
“When did that start?” Marcus asked.
“After you had that new code installed,” the helmsman said.
“How are the rest of the gauges?” Marcus asked as he sat down in the captain’s chair.
“All green,” he said.
“That makes no sense.”
“No, sir,” the helmsman said.
“Are the engineers compiling data on that?” Marcus asked.
“I believe so,” he said.
Marcus called down to engineering.
“What can we do for you, captain?”
“Are you collecting data on the engine operations?” Marcus asked.
“We are. I guess you saw that 90 percent efficiency.”
“I did,” Marcus said.
“We are looking into it. We’re flying faster, but the ship appears to be handling it,” the chief engineer said.
“Keep looking into it. This ship was built on government contracts,” Marcus said. He could just see the steel in the hull not rated for the engines at 100 percent.
“We know. We’re on it.”
Marcus ended the communication. “When do they send lunch up here?”
The helmsman looked at the clock. “It should be on its way up.”
Marcus turned his head when the elevator door opened.
Shadow hopped onto the bridge and over to Marcus. She handed him a box.
Marcus chuckled. “You gift-wrapped it?” He pulled off the bow and unwrapped the box before opening it. “Fancy bloodchocolates.” He held one up.
“She knows what you like,” the helmsman said.
“She does.” Marcus ate it. Then, he kissed Shadow.
“Here’s the rest of it,” Alera said as she rolled a cart into the room.
She was followed by a human crewmember.
“And I have the food for everyone else,” the crewmember said.
“Fantastic,” the helmsman said.
“This is for everyone and Shadow,” Alera said. “She wanted to have lunch with you.”
“We’ll have ours in the briefing room,” Marcus said.
“We can handle it out here,” the helmsman said.
“Thank you,” Marcus said.
“Will we see you for dinner?” Alera asked.
“Yes. I have first shift starting a little early tonight,” Marcus said. He filled a tray and walked into the briefing room with Shadow.
Shadow sat down at the long table.
Marcus set a blood and a plate of bloodcakes in front of her. He set a blood, the bloodchocolates and a few bloodcakes at his spot and sat down.
“How’s the ship?” Shadow asked as she picked up her blood.
“Fine so far,” Marcus said. “I’m concerned about the engines continuously spooling faster, but nothing seems to be wrong.”
Shadow drained her blood. “How long to the space station?”
“Three months,” Marcus said.
“Wasn’t it four months?” Shadow asked.
“Yes, and actually, we’ve only been out about five months. If this keeps up, we’ll be two months or more ahead of schedule,” Marcus said.
“The Space Agency won’t be expecting us,” Shadow said.
“N0, they won’t be. And that’s a good thing.” Marcus said then looked at Shadow. “We could have spent that week on Umbra like you wanted.”
“I think it would have been more than a week, but it’s fine,” Shadow said. “I liked being back, but that’s not home anymore.”
“It didn’t feel much like home to me either,” Marcus said as he grabbed a couple bloodchocolates and ate them. “These are really good.”
“It was a new product at the snack shop,” Shadow said.
“That was really thoughtful of you,” Marcus said.
“I know you had other plans tonight,” Shadow said as she grabbed a bloodcake.
“I did, but there’s no rush,” Marcus said.
They annihilated the food.
Marcus looked at Shadow. “Did you not explode a bloodcake?”
“I ate them gently,” Shadow said.
“That’s not like you,” Marcus said. He started to ask if she was feeling alright when she stood.
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