Author: Robert Wagner
Category: Other
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Chen's hands worked over the keyboard. Herra looked over her shoulder at the data coming in. "Virgil's right. I can scan about 2 AU out from the ship at this time." Chen fell quiet and looked at the screen. She tapped a few more times then looked up at Herra, puzzlement all over her face. "I'm sorry, Commander. Let me make sure the equipment is not damaged. I'll do some calibration and baseline test. The readings I just got can't be right."
Herra humored her and gave Chen the time to do that. Even though she had the sinking feeling in her stomach that Virgil was right all along. When she finished, Chen got up and backed away from the science station. Like it was dangerous, or about to explode at any minute.
"What is going on, Herra? These readings can't be right. My findings indicate that the wormhole is gone." Chen slicked back her short black hair with both hands and approached her seat cautiously. She pecked at the keyboard.
Herra came up behind her and bent down to take a closer look. "That is what Virgil reported to me. He saw it happen. One second there, one second gone. You figure out where we are yet?"
It took moments for Chen to respond. Herra was just about to ask her again. "Oh...yes. We are in an unexplored system. Based on the star patterns, we're two light years from the nearest Earth colony system."
That wasn't much help. Herra didn't say that out loud, of course. "Scan the system for another wormhole. I'll see if Virgil can do anything to boost the range or once we get moving maybe that'll help find us an out."
Chen turned to look up at her again. "What if we do not?"
Herra didn't have an answer for her.
Once she had given all the reassurance she could to Chen that all would be okay, Herra retired back to her cabin. Chen would keep working on scanning the system and would let her know what the results would be as soon as she could. For now Herra laid back on her bunk and looked up at the dull grey metal of her ceiling. Her hands rested on her stomach as she tried to gather herself after the days events.
Again, the powerlessness of her situation threatened to overwhelm her. Alien ships. Collapsing wormholes. Dissension in her crew. I've gotten into a black hole problem after problem. It was all too big for her. She was a simple explorer, one without limits, or so she thought. The situation she was in now showed her that feeling was wrong.
All the work that Virgil and Chen were doing now was probably pointless. She was going to die with the knowledge that she was responsible for four other people's deaths, and unpleasant ones at that. Sure, that was always a possibility with deep space exploration, but she didn't really think it would happen to her. Her skills and her ship would keep her safe. It didn't turn out that way. Herra closed her eyes and let herself wallow in the self blame and the idea that Virgil was right. She wasn't the Commander she thought she was.
Her door chimed. To her it felt like too much bother to even open it. If it was Virgil she didn't feel up to seeing him. Or hearing from Chen right now. She ignored the chime. Seconds passed and it rang again. More seconds passed and it rang for a third time. In a huff, Herra got up and pushed the door open.
"Yes?" she inquired as the door moved on its track, making sure the person on the other side knew her irritation. It happened to be Zayan. He looked up at her.
"Herra. May I speak with you?"
Not wanting to, but not able to think of an excuse to send him away, Herra reluctantly moved aside and gestured him in. He moved in a simple way over to her chair. She stood by the wall where she was, arms crossed and a frown on her face. Zayan's usual happy go lucky smile was back on his face. She felt a pang of jealousy at that.
"Commander. I just wanted to thank you. For the opportunity you have give to me. I know I not been part of your crew for long but I think you are good leader."
That caught Herra off guard. She figured he was here to also pour out some grievances against her. Not knowing what else to say she responded with, "Thank you." She paused and then added, "Sorry I yelled at you."
"It is fine. I saw right through it." Zayan sat back casually, crossing one leg over the other.
Herra crossed over and sat on the edge of her bed, closer to Zayan. Something about his presence was drawing her in. She hadn't had much time with the man one on one yet. She liked to make sure a person she hired would be around awhile before putting in the time training them more.
"Saw through what?"
Zayan gave her a knowing look. "On my colony planet we celebrate the festival of masks. During the day long celebration everyone in city wears their masks. You cannot tell who is who. The funny thing is putting on a mask lets us drop the ones we wear everyday. Watching that from the sides and from below I feel I have learned about peering behind the masks."
Herra didn't understand what this had to do with anything. "Okay." She stood up. "Is there anything else you need?"
Zayan stood as well and shook his head. "No, Commander. Except I want to thank you again. I've learned very much today. I feel I still have much to learn from you. You, Virgil, Chen, and Sanford. Together I think we survive this. I would just ask of you to think about what I have said."
Zayan made a nod with his head, put his hands behind his back, and walked out of Herra's cabin. She watched him go, putting one of her hands on the back of her neck and wondering what he was going on about.
"Commander," Chen called over the comm. She sounded scared.
Pushing the button on her desk console, Herra responded. "Yes Chen. What is it?"
"I need you to come up here. I have data I need to talk with you about."
Herra involuntarily shivered after she acknowledge she was on her way. Whatever Chen wanted to tell her, it sounded bad.
"Virgil has updated me every time he's had a conduit rerouted and I'm able to boost the scanners signals," Chen began.
Herra wanted to bite out why wasn't she notified of updates to Virgil's progress but she held it back. Now wasn't the time.
"That's good isn't it? You've found something?"
"No, Commander. That is the problem I wanted to talk to you about. My range is now the entire solar system. I've detected no other energy signals that match that of a wormhole."
Herra was standing behind Chen. Chen looked up at her with scared eyes. Herra took two steps back before bumping into the other side of the bridge.
"That can't be." She whispered more to herself. "There's always been a way in and a way out."
Chen turned away. Right before she did, Herra could see tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "I can check again but I'm sure the instruments are working correctly. Either there was never another wormhole in this system or it has also been collapsed."
Herra climbed into her flight seat. She needed the familiar comfort it would bring her. "What about this system? Its planets?"
"The systems star is a brown dwarf. Unremarkable. It has two planets orbiting it. One planet I scanned is a hot world covered in volcanoes. It resembles Venus back in the Sol system. The other is a minor gas planet. It has twenty moons I'm in the process of scanning. With the gas planet so far from the weak sun, I don't expect to find much."
Herra reviewed all the data and the options in her head. There were no wormholes. No habitable planets, or even a planet able to set down on to do major repairs. If they could get underway with one engine, they were looking at about a four year journey back to habitable space. The amount of supplies on the ship would stretch to maybe four weeks.
She closed her eyes. For some reason what Zayan had just said to her ran through her head. It seemed to cover the thoughts like a blanket, blocking her ability to come up with an idea of how the hell they were going to get out of this. The overhead lighting came on and the flight panel in front of her blinked to life. Herra noticed none of it. Her thoughts became scattered like the rays of the sun. She could feel herself becoming misty eyed.
"Commander," Chen called from behind her. Herra didn't, couldn't respond. She was out of ideas. "Herra?" Still Herra continued sitting, eyes closed, tears threateni
ng to spill out of the cracks. Is my mask Commander? Is Virgil right? What am I going to do? Herra put a forearm over her eyes. Chen was shaking her shoulder now. Still she didn't respond.
She heard Virgil clump to the bridge. "Chen, can you tell Herra that I've done all I can? I was able to get the remaining engine up and running but we'll be lucky to get a quarter of the power back without it shorting out and blowing the whole grid up."
Herra heard Chen whisper something to Virgil. Right now she didn't care. She'd already made a mess of things and the two crew members behind her hated her for it. There was more whispering and she heard both of them leave. After a count of five she dropped her arm, opened her eyes, and looked outside. She leaned forward as far as she could, letting the vista of space fill her eyes. It would be the last time she could enjoy it. She would have Virgil drop her off on one of the gas giants moons. One less person would make the supplies stretch longer. Maybe they could get lucky. Be picked up by some other ship. There chances would be better without her.
She watched as the missing part of her ship drifted into view. Along with the wreckage of the alien fighter she had blasted. Without her wanting to, her instincts and old habits kicked in. An idea started to form, sparked by the debris. She'd have to run it by Virgil but she thought it would work. You and Virgil and Chen and Sanford. Together I think we will survive this. That was a lot like Virgil's complaint about being listened to. Maybe she was too controlling. Maybe she didn't need to come up with all the solutions after all.
With all thoughts of abandoning Dauntless gone for now, Herra pushed the button activating the ship wide conn. "Listen up everyone. We need to all meet in the galley. Twenty minutes. I want you all to bring your best ideas about how we're going to get home."
After the twenty minutes were up, Herra remained in her flight seat for two additional minutes. She wanted the crew to all be together before she came in. She needed more time to steel herself. This wasn't going to be easy.
When she did walk in, the mixed crew of men and women were chatting to each other. That stopped when Sanford spotted her. He looked as put together as always, with a lazy grin on his face. Virgil glared at her. Chen looked apologetic. Zayan looked as happy as a kid on his birthday. Herra took encouragement from that.
"Okay. Whew has it been a day or what?" She paused, stood tall, and projected her voice like she was in Commander mode. "Virgil, I first want to say, well done. You're an engineering wonder. We've got light, life support, and an actual working engine. Chen, nice work scanning the system. Sanford, you've treated those who were injured well. Zayan, you have shored me up with your positive outlook."
"Herra. Please. What's with this hip, hip, hurrah stuff?" Virgil butted in. "Is it supposed to make us feel okay that soon we'll be slowly dying?"
She sighed. She looked at Zayan. He was right. This wasn't the approach any of them needed. She didn't need to carry the whole burden. That's what she'd decided twenty minutes ago, right? Herra relaxed and let her shoulders slump. She spoke more natural. Like she was talking to friends.
"You're right, Virgil. You're right. I don't want to gloss over exactly how bad we got it now though. This is a pinch we're in. I'm going to need everyone's help to get out of it. Somehow the wormhole collapsed, somehow, and another hasn't been found. There are no good planets in the system. We could try one of the moons and let Zayan have a closer look at it. We'll be limping along for years before we get to anyone that could help us but we only have weeks worth of supplies."
"Saying things are dire would be an understatement," Sanford chimed in.
Herra gave a sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah. So, what are we going to do? I have one idea I'm going to share with the rest of you. Then I want to hear yours." She met Virgil square in the eyes. "All of yours."
"What is this idea, Herra?" Zayan asked.
"I saw the cut off part of the Dauntless floating by and I thought, what if we could reattached it?"
Virgil let out a genuine laugh. Once he recovered he said, "Are you daft? That's ridiculous."
"We could use some of the parts of the alien ship to help us. What do you say, Virgil? Wouldn't it at least be worth a shot?" Herra put her hands on her hips. She had laid it out. Now it was in Virgil's court.
The rest of the crew looked at Virgil as well. "It crazy but...what the hell? It would give me something to do while I starve. I'm going to need more assistance than the Dido can give me though."
Herra smiled. "I would gladly be willing to give you a hand." She had to be the bigger person here. After all she was the Commander.
The glare Virgil gave her dropped to a look of mild annoyance. "Sure."
"Commander. I'll analyze the limited data the sensors collected during the wormhole collapse. I'd like to find out all I can about what may have caused it," Chen said.
Herra gave her the go ahead with a nod.
"With your permission Commander, I would like to take the probe out to the location of the wormhole. To assist Hui," Zayan added.
Sanford rose. "Since there's not much I can do for now I'll retire to my quarters. One of us should at least be fresh and well rested in case there's any more trouble."
"Let's hope we don't have to disturb your rest," Herra said as Sanford left.
"You're going to need to pilot the ship closer to the wreckage," Virgil said. "I'll have to come up with a way to pull in what we need."
"You work on that Virgil and leave the flying to me." Herra was feeling the power again. They were going to work on getting themselves out of this mess and succeed. "Okay everyone. Let's get to work."
"Remember Herra. Take it nice and easy with her. The Dauntless is like a horse with two broken legs now. You can't expect her to run. I don't want to have to fix another of your messes."
Herra gave him a look that said, oh come on, but she kept silent. She didn't expect to have things smoothed over with him just like that. "Got it," was all she said.
Herra followed Chen and Zayan back up to the bridge. She let them take their place at the science station. Zayan sat down to pilot the probe with Chen standing and helping. Herra snuggled into her chair. She checked her board. There was more yellow and red lit up than she would like. Herra stroked her hands across the console. Don't worry. Hold together a little longer and I'll get you fixed up. Promise.
Settling in, she put one hand on the flight stick and with the other raised engine power up to the absolute minimum. The deck shuttered underneath her chair. Dauntless listed to one side. She would have to compensate for that. Doing delicate maneuvers with only one engine...well, tricky was an understatement. With a surgeon's precision, Herra eased Dauntless towards the debris field. They didn't have shields either, which made it even more challenging. It took long, agonizing minutes for her to acclimate to the way her ship handled now. It felt like eternity for her to get Dauntless into position. She was able to match velocity and rotation of the sliced of portion of the Dauntless. Once she was as close as she dared take the ship in, she killed the engine. Herra wished she could have locked in the autopilot, but it would take time she didn't have to calibrate it for running with just one engine. She would just have to trust that her piloting abilities had done the best that she could.
Herra stood beside Virgil on the outside of the Dauntless. She had brought her ship within five meters of the sliced off engine. It drifted almost imperceptibly by them, rotating as it did. Herra tried to turn off the part of her brain still raging about the damage to her ship. That didn't help. She had a job to do now.
"You know this is the longest of longshots, right Herra?" Virgil said over the private comm between the two of them.
"Yeah well..." Well what? She didn't know. She had to do something. That's all she knew.
Virgil had taken some piping and two extra pair of magnetic boots and fashioned them into makeshift tools. Maybe with these they could grab and pull in the sliced off chunk. It sounded ridiculous but she was willing to try it. They literally had nothing to lose.
The good thing about zero-g was the two of them weighed the same as the floating piece of the Dauntless. Out of nervousness Herra yanked twice on her tether before extending out the pole Virgil passed her. They must've look like two ants holding up twigs trying to catch something large passing by, something like half a watermelon.
The missing engine drifted closer overhead. Herra reached, extending her arms to their maximum reach. She felt the jerk in her arms as the magnetic part of her pole made contact. The pieces momentum nearly jerked the tool out of her hands. Her little magnetic pole skipped off the metal as it continued flying overhead. It was like she was tickling a giant with a feather.
Out of the corner of her eyes Herra saw the sliced wing of the Dauntless floating off on another trajectory. That part wasn't essential to them get them home so Herra focused her attention back on what was.
Herra and Virgil were both making contact now. The piece was slowing down. She didn't feel like she was going to be plucked right off the hull like a bug anymore. Her arms began to feel like jelly. She had to give them a short break. The engine piece was now her horizon. It completely dominated her view.
"Herra," Virgil called in a rush. "I got a solid hold now. Quick, can you get your pole up?"
Stuffing down the comment that first came to mind, Herra thrust her arms up. Her magnet got a firm grip this time as well. It felt like they had gotten the piece to stop moving. The two stood like statues, holding the missing part of Dauntless steady.
"Well, I'll be damned," said Virgil.
This was the easy part. Herra knew it would be much more difficult and time consuming trying to move the engine block back into place. If they managed that, then there would be the time for Virgil to look over the engine and see if anything could be done about getting it working again. It was the longest of long shots. Herra checked her oxygen readout. They had thirty two more minutes. They may have to break between attaching it and seeing if it would work.