The door opened and allowed Officer Peterson out. He was holding a flash drive in his hand tightly. My eyes narrowed. "What's wrong?"

    "It's best if I show you, First Officer."

    He quickly led us down the hall. Something was clearly wrong. His footsteps were lilted slightly. His face was pale. His hand was clenched around the drive. Considering he was diagnosing the issue, this was a bad sign. I somehow doubted there was a chance it was good news. Mayor Spencer followed, his own thoughts swirling with worry.

    The elevator doors opened on the Bridge. The shutters on the front of the ship prevented any light from getting in. Dust swirled around my feet as I walked to my station, turning it on. The screen lit up. Officer Peterson handed me the drive. I plugged it in. A few boxes of information popped onto the screen. They were only numbers and symbols.

    "What is this, Officer Peterson?"

    "This is the report log." He pointed at a few lines of the numbers. "It's in a code that only I can translate. Up here is the date we took off." He scrolled up. Mayor Spencer leaned in. "The computer said everything was fine until we got out of the atmosphere. A check on supplies ran through and showed that there was something missing in the storage shelves."

    "Something missing?" Part of my training had been on protocol of the take-off, and I instantly found something wrong. "Why was the supplies check not run before we took off? We exited the atmosphere several hours afterward."

    "I also noticed that," agreed Officer Peterson. "It looks as if there is a new line of code put in right before we took off. It delayed the check several hours. Code only knows how to follow instructions. It doesn't know anything else, so it obeyed the new order and waited."

   "Who has access to this code?"

    "Besides the people who originally coded it? Only myself, you, and Captain Thorn." That eliminated the chance of sabotage. If only we were able to access it, then someone had put the delay in there for a good reason. "I take it you didn't do this?"

    "No, First Officer."

    That left Captain Thorn. I couldn't imagine why he had delayed the supply count, but it wasn't my job to question my Captain. "What supplies did the check show we were missing?"

    Officer Peterson grimaced. "Pre-stored electron batteries."

    Before my training for the Patriot I, I wouldn't have had an idea as to what that was. Now that I did, I realized why Officer Peterson was worried. We were missing electron batteries. Everything finally clicked – why the Patriot I had fallen behind, why the crew was still asleep. I swore softly under my breath.

    "Excuse me," asked Mayor Spencer quietly. "What are electron batteries?" His thoughts displayed his clear confusion.

    "Simply put, Mayor, electron batteries store massive amounts of long-lasting power. The Patriot was built to withstand space and gather enough energy to keep us moving while sustaining the crew. Solar panels are built into the hull. The Pioneer and the Patriot took a course through space that allowed them to gather solar energy from stars. However, there were too many gaps between stars for that. Scientists devised another solution."

    "The electron batteries?"

    "Yes. In space, there's nothing but cold. Atoms move slowly. Using this technology, the Patriot captures electrons from things we pass and pulls them free. The electrons are stored in a container. Because they are all charged negatively and push against one another, they are constantly generating an energy field to stay away. The battery captures that energy and transforms it into power the Patriot uses.

    "The Patriot was stocked with these batteries beforehand. The computer is programmed to use the batteries to power the ship. The energy they supply are long-lasting, but not that powerful. The Patriot was stocked with hundreds of the batteries so that we would have enough. With some missing, that explains why the Patriot fell behind."

    Officer Peterson nodded. "Yes. The computer is programmed to put the crew first – always. It detected that we would have not enough power to get to Z-031 in two hundred years with enough power to keep the crew alive and wake them up upon finishing. So, it decreased the amount of power running to the thrusters and engines. Over time it decreased more and more. That's why the Patriot fell behind."

    Mayor Spencer rubbed his scruff in thought. "So with less energy, the Patriot slowed down to preserve the crew. That's why you're late."

    "That's also why we're the only ones awake," I murmured quietly. "The computer skipped Captain Thorn to keep him safe. Then I woke up Officer Peterson manually. Officer, how much power do we have left?"

    He scrolled down the lines of code and considered. "With the Patriot in the sunlight, we're also gathering solar power. The Patriot is using that combined with the electron batteries. Together, the power is keeping pace with the use for the crew's safety. We're using the power as fast as we're getting it."

    "So without any batteries, the crew will remain asleep because we don't have the power." I straightened upwards, pacing slightly. My feet carried me on a small path around the Bridge. "We need batteries. Do you know where the missing ones went?"

    "No. The computer only knows that they're not on board."

    Why wouldn't we have them? The Patriot underwent multiple inspections before we left. Where did the batteries go? I rubbed my hand over my bare head. "Mayor Spencer, I'm assuming that we cannot get batteries anywhere in Settlement Mirah."

    "I highly doubt it. I've never heard of these." His thoughts confirmed his words. My face tightened for a moment. There's something else. Those batteries aren't exactly safe. The pressure of those electrons in the capsule are strong. If mishandled, those batteries explode. "Officer Peterson, make sure that the Patriot has no records of damage or explosions on board at any time."

   He tapped for a moment. "Nothing, First Officer."

    Bad, bad sign. Either way, I need to focus on my crew before finding out what happened to the electron batteries. They've been gone for five-hundred years. I lifted my eyes and sat at my desk. Officer Peterson moved away as I pulled up a blueprint. I read for a few minutes before snapping my fingers.

   "The Pioneer was stocked with the batteries as well. It was in case of something happening to the Patriot. There will be some on that ship that we can use to wake the crew." I downloaded the blueprint onto Officer Peterson's drive and unplugged it. My station's screen darkened as I shut it off.

   "So we have a plan!" Mayor Spencer clapped his hands in excitement. "Excellent. The Pioneer is a small flight away by pod. I've already spoken with Mayor Nahla Zyre of Settlement Edam."

  "Good."