Author: Robert Wagner
Category: Other
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"Now that I feel a bit safer, let me scan for the Dauntless." Virgil brought his gauntlet up and set it to homing mode. He had come up with a beacon program that both him and Herra had in their suits. It was paired with a sensor back on the ship that would tell either one of them where the Dauntless was, just for instances like this one. He scanned, rotating his body around three hundred and sixty degrees. He frown at what his computer systems were telling him.
"I'm guess that whatever materials make up this ship, it's interfering with my signal. I can't get a reading on Dauntless. Not good."
His gauntlet dinged and Virgil glanced at it. He scrunched his eyebrows together. "This is strange. Could that be right?"
"Could what be right?" Zayan stood beside Virgil and tried to peer over his shoulder. He was too short, so Virgil tiled his arm towards the man.
"According to this, there is a section of the ship not to far from here that has gravity. It's this way."
From where they stood, the hallway broke off into three spokes. Virgil pointed at the hall furthest to his right.
"Seems as good a direction to go as any. We're off to see the wizard, Zayan."
Zayan tilted his head and gave him a puzzled look. Virgil laughed good natured before walking off.
Herra slammed her boot down again and again but it wouldn't catch on the hull of the ship. Damn strange. What is this thing made out of? She was hanging off the ship still by her blaster. She had tucked one of her feet up under her. She had to twist to the point of painfulness because she was so tall. She gave up after the sixth try. Her arms were numb with the death grip she had around her blaster.
Shifting into a prone position, Herra reached into the crack in the hull, pulled her blaster out, and put it back in its holster. She reached back up, now hanging on with both hands. The body of the ship was smooth all around her. Herra couldn't believe she was back in this predicament again. She glanced down at her oxygen and power readings and immediately wished that she hadn't.
"What am I going to do?" she said to herself. The comm was still quiet.
Below her and to the left something must have ruptured on the ship. The hull vibrated under her and she could see nondescript shapes shoot out of the alien vessel and into space. The disturbance caused the wormhole below her and the ship to look like a flashing strobe light of rainbow colors.
I'm tired of this crap. That's my way in.
She rotated around and pushed off. She skimmed across the surface of the hull. She padded at the skin of the ship with her hands. Working to keep her body as straight as she could. Herra was closing the gap. She was listing to the right. She overcompensated and her fingertips were now scraping the hull. No. Nononono.
A ridge ahead of her would be her only chance. She grabbed it with both hands as she floated above it and pushed off with all her might. As she propelled towards the opening, she had second thoughts about this plan. What if something big shot out of the hole and knocked her away? Well too late now. Into the breach once more.
Herra hurtled towards the gap. She spied a thick red and green cable flapping in the air that was escaping the ship. That was now her goal. She reached out for it. The cable was in her hands and just as suddenly, it slipped away. Before she could even curse herself, she jerked to a halt. The cable had gotten itself wrapped around her ankle during its undulations.
Her teeth rattled and clanked painful together as she shook like a rag doll in the jaws of a playful dog. Left, right. Up, down. She needed to get control of the situation fast, before she blacked out. Herra bent down, reaching for the cable. She jerked as a white cargo container swooshed by her. It missed her by inches. Frustrated, she turned that anger into concentration and dipped back down to grab the cable. She succeeded. The violent movement of the piece of cable calmed down. It wasn't easy, but Herra managed to get her ankle untangled and wrapped the cable three times around her forearm.
Hand over hand, she pulled herself again the outflux of air. Small pieces of whatever could escape from the ship whooshed by her or bounced of her suit. Luckily, none of it was big. The resistance against her became less and less. She wondered why until she got closer.
"If it's not one thing, it's another. Whole galaxies against me, I swear."
The scorched, ragged hole in the side of the ship became blocked with whatever couldn't fit through. She gave herself to the count of five to wallow in some self pity. Herra took the now limp cable, wrapped it around her chest and waist, and drew her blaster. She fired. Bright blue light escaped from the gun's tip. Herra blew backwards. She jerked to a stop at the end of the cable's length. She had tied it off short. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it was one she thought she was going to have to repeat three more times. Herra pulled herself back in and repeated the process. She was wrong. It ended up being four.
Sanford found himself taken aback. It wasn't often anything in the universe could surprise him anymore. This day sure had proved him wrong over and over. Here another example presented itself.
The readings Chen had shown him had reported an Earth like atmosphere in the room where they had landed. Sanford stood up to try to figure out why that was. His light played over green leaves the size of his head and that answered his question. Never before had he seen a greenhouse on a ship. It wasn't something that they did on Earth vessels, and he was pretty sure Ishalan didn't either. Why would anyone? It was a waste of space, which was a premium commodity on a starship. It was a mystery he couldn't explain but it would be Chen's saving grace. Before doing anymore exploring, Sanford kneeled back down beside Chen, who still laid prone on the floor.
"How's the pain, one to ten?" he asked, looking again at her leg. His bandage job looked ragged now. Still, it held.
"Eleven." Chen sighed. "It goes to eleven. I'll live right?" Sanford gave a comforting smile and nodded. "Where are we? Why is there so much oxygen here?"
"It appears to be a greenhouse. Possibly a hydroponics garden? Good news for you though. It's a gamble, but as your doctor I advise you to try it. Turn on your respirator and we'll just have to hope nothing microscopic can make it through the filters."
He switched his over as well. Now they were getting air from their surroundings instead of the tanks. The scrubbers in the suits should keep them from getting anything nasty.
"You want another dose of pain medication? I can give you one more."
Chen shook her head no. "Just help me up. I want to keep my head clear. This is so interesting."
Sanford wasn't surprised, he did as she wished without argument. Slinging her arm around him, he helped her up. They needed to get back to the Dauntless soon. He wanted to get Chen's leg wound properly disinfected and healed up. If he didn't do it soon there could be scarring. He told her as much. A distracted "okay" was her reply.
They could turn off their magnetic boots since artificial gravity still worked in the room as well. Sanford supported Chen as the two walked around winding paths through the foliage. There were railings separating the walkway from the dirt where the plants grew. It wasn't pitch dark in the greenhouse either. A dim, diffused light seemed to come from everywhere. Mostly what Sanford saw were plants that looked a lot like Earth trees. Some were small, like saplings. Others towered over him. Sanford wondered if they were in the middle of the alien ship, and if this place ran from the bottom to the top as one continuous room.
Chen sounded as if her pain was now miles away. "This is exciting isn't it? To devote this much space and energy to plant life, I wonder if it is something cultural? Or could it be a technological gap they have?"
Sanford was about to answer before realizing Chen either talked to herself, or made a audio journal and wasn't asking him his opinion. He would indulge her a few more minutes, letting their scrubbers fill their oxygen tanks, before insisting they get back to Dauntless.
That thought led him to another. How were they going to get back to the Dauntless? With the sudden attack and the twists and turns of getting where they were now, h
e was lost. While Chen went on and on with her findings and analysis he tried to devise a plan. Should they try to find a way to go up as far as they could? Or find a door that is about in the same place as where they came in through the vent and try to backtrack that way? He wished Herra was here. He was good at fixing people, not this.
"Sanford, look at this!" Chen sounded more excited than she usually did while she worked. He had been absently looking down, trying to think of a plan to get them back to Dauntless. He looked up and at what she pointed to. It was a computer console of some sort. It was still operational too. Its black screen filled with strange symbols in glowing orange. The alien's language he assumed.
"First contact with an alien race, huh? Guess this proves it for sure. Never thought I'd end up in a situation like this. And I hate to be the one spoiling this momentous event, but I think we should get going." He felt like this room lulled them into a false sense of security.
As if to prove his intuition right, a loud banging and a muffled squeal of metal rubbing metal reverberated through the plants and trees. Were they about to be attacked? He pulled Chen along with him, lifting her over the waist high railing and pushing back into the trees. Just then, the lighting changed from the soft yellowish glow it had been to a crimson. Warning klaxons came to life. He and Chen went in deeper, until the walkway could be barely seen. He wished either one of them had a weapon.
"The first time I broke the law was when I was fourteen. By then, I'd been on my own for over a year. I hadn't eaten for three days. I was in a back alley, hoping to find some scraps in a garbage can clean enough to eat. That's when my nose led me to the open back door of a deli. The smells coming from inside made me salivate uncontrollably. Cautiously, I popped my head inside. Seeing no one around but seeing a tray of fresh baked deli rolls I reached in, grabbed two, and ran off. Stuffing one in my mouth as I struggled to breath. I worried that whole night that the police or someone would follow my trail of crumbs and arrest me." Zayan ended his tale with a hearty laugh.
Zayan chatted nonstop since they left the hangar behind. They had twisted through hallways, occasionally coming into rooms they didn't have time to explore. If he wasn't talking about his past, Zayan commented on anything he saw that was alien to him, which was everything. Virgil didn't know if Zayan was one of those nervous talker types or he was just wanting Virgil to get to know him or what. Virgil was beginning to regret he had fixed his comm. He was only listening with one ear, but still it was a lot of sensory information to take in while trying to intensely concentrate on finding a way out.
The inside of this ship wasn't laid out in a logical way that he could figure out. It seemed more like a warren of an animal. Virgil felt like he had traveled through the tunnels of an ant farm. Virgil stopped and raised a hand when the came to another branch in the hallway.
"I thought the layout of Ziambwee was a confusing tangle. These hallways are giving it, a how do you say, run for your credits."
Virgil thought about telling Zayan to zip it and save his oxygen. He figured it wouldn't help and would only led to resentment when he might need Zayan's help some point in the future. So he kept it to himself. Instead, he closed his eyes. Walking through a mental picture of where they had been in relationship to the outside hull of the ship he thought they should go right.
Walking on, Virgil guessed he had missed part of something Zayan was saying. "-only person I care about I left behind. Wait until they hear about my part in the discovery of a new alien race. I knew Herra was what's the term, low screwing me? Well whatever. The pay was lower than what the typical service she wanted me to do would pay. I was so desperate to get out, I took it. Oh, don't tell her I said that Virgil. I want to stay on the Dauntless. I don't want her to think I am ungrateful."
Virgil turned on him. Zayan skid to a halt inches from Virgil. "She's gone, alright. It sucks but there it is. I would never bet against her, no matter the fight, no matter the situation. But she ain't coming back from being blown into space." Virgil speech was very heated. He brought his voice down to a whisper. "She ain't coming back from that, man." He pointed up.
That seemed to shut up Zayan for a few minutes. Virgil stalked down the hall now. Letting what he just said soak in. He'd said it out loud, and that made it real. He had to accept it. He wouldn't get to tell Herra I told you so, because she was gone. For all their butting heads, she was a good person. She just need to stop being so demanding, telling him what to do all the time. If she would have listened to his good ideas, that would have helped too. He wouldn't admit it to her in a million light years to her face, but him calling her Commander had gone from an insult and sarcastic joke to a sign of loyalty for him years ago. He wondered if deep down she knew that.
Glancing down at his readouts, his oxygen levels said three percent. Why was he feeling so short of breath then? Was it in his mind? Virgil shook his head once, like he could physically clear it out. They were going to make it, they had to. With Herra gone, he was going to have to fly the Dauntless out of here. Once they were back safely on a colony world, or maybe even Earth, he could be sad. Then he could have a drink for his old Commander. He guessed once he got back, Dauntless would be his. He always wanted his own ship and had grown attached to the Dauntless but to get it like this...
For the first time since leaving the hangar, the two reached a closed door. This one looked more substantial than any they had come across so far. According to Virgil's reading, the gravity anomaly was behind this door.
"What do you think we'll find behind the door?" Zayan sounded anxious.
Virgil brought out his grasping tool again along with a laser cutter this time. He tried to reassure Zayan, but it he sounded exasperated. "At the worst some advanced alien tech. What you think it's going to be, a space ghost or something?"
Zayan gave a grumpy huff and went quiet. Not that Virgil could have heard him once he started working on the door. It was proving tougher to crack. He knelt and stood on his tiptoes, working around the door, extending the cutter arm as far as he could around the frame. He pulled and pushed with the grasper hand. He put his own weight behind it as he worked at it. Grunting, he got the door to eventually move up enough that the two of them could duck down to get inside.
Zayan put cockiness into his voice. "You were wrong, Virgil. There was more wonder on the other side of that door than just technology."
Virgil couldn't believe his eyes. They had walked into an alien forest. In the middle of a starship. "Who were these beings?"
After blasting an opening, Herra fought to pull herself inside. Her arms trembled with exhaustion. Every time she released her grip to move her hand, she feared she would slip off. She had to keep up the pace. If the hole filled up again before she got there, she didn't think she would have the energy left to start over.
Once through the hole, she had to keep fighting to stay inside. It was like an invisible force was pulling her back towards space. Herra looked ahead. She gritted her teeth. Hand over hand. That was her job now. The cable that was her lifeline ran down to the floor. It protruded between two broken panels in the deck. She was dangling halfway between the hole in the hull and the floor ahead when the pressure differential threatening to suck her back out into space lessened. She had to imagine the hole she blasted was plugged up again. Not that she could take an ounce of concentration away from pulling herself down.
Reaching the floor, she engaged her magnetic boots and was never so happy to hear a sound after they thunked on the floor. Gingerly, she let go of the cable. Herra stood there. Solid. Like a statue. Daring herself to accept she had made it.
A deep sigh escaped her lungs. That was the closest call she had ever had. Her arms felt like rubber stretched too thin. She was going to have some stories to tell the other spacers back in the bars! After talking to the media and collecting her huge bounty of course. It'll probably be the biggest auction in the history of Earth.
Visions of dollars signs faded after she glanced at her stats
. The readout showed she had a three percent oxygen level. Talk about out of the solar flare and into the black hole. Her arms didn't want to cooperate in the simple task of swinging by her side. Her body screamed at her to take a break. Ha no time for that now. She needed to get back to the Dauntless, wormhole speed.
Which way was that though? After cruising all over the outside of the ship, Herra actually had somewhat of an idea where she was in relation to where she had landed. It was going to be close. That's if she was right about her location. The alien vessel wasn't exactly small, one wrong turn and she's suffocate. She turned to the left, thinking that's where she need to look for a way out. A screeching noise came from that very direction. Herra cursed under her breath. This ship better not be falling apart under my feet again. She took a few tentative steps in the direction the sounds came from.
It was an unexpected bonus that this big room that she was in must have some sort of independent lighting. It was nice being out of the darkness, if only for a little bit. On the way across, she passed three duplicates of the fighters that just about shot her off the side of the hull. She flirted with the idea of jumping into one, but now that she knew for sure this was alien technology there was no way she'd be able to get one going. Promising herself that one day she'd get the chance to fly one, she continued on.
Minutes later, after passing through numerous scattered boxes and crates, Herra came to a door pried open. She couldn't believe it. This had to be the work of Virgil.
"Virgil! Virgil, you hear me?" Time creeped by. She got no reply. She did however pick up a little hint of static.
With no more time to waste, Herra ducked under the door. She walked rapidly, not quite a jog, with renewed belief that she'd get her and her crew out of this mess. Every time she came to a junction she'd call out one of the names of her crew. She got no reply. Always she went right, deeper into the middle of the ship. From there, it was her thought that maybe she'd find a central shaft that would lead her up to the Dauntless.