by Luigi Robles
“Yeah, I’m here,” Pycca said through everyone’s coms. “Your best option is to slowly pry open their door. The opening needs to be contained until the pressure regulates. You’ll need to open the exhaust vents on the last airlock to regulate any additional or negative pressure. Kya assures me that Anvelin 26 can do it. Well, at least up to six tons.”
“That’s all we needed to hear,” Eora said.
Everyone quickly made way for Anvelin 26, which floated without a problem to the last airlock. Once the last airlock door closed behind it, the machine got into position. Two of its hind legs rose to the ceiling of the hatch, latching on to nearby handles, while the two middle legs extended themselves to attach to handles as well. It reached out slowly to the alien ship’s door with its two front legs, making a wedge where the doors met down the middle.
“We might want to get back,” Eora said, reaching for a handle behind her.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” August said.
The group began to make their way back into the space shuttle, holding on to whatever they could to expedite the process.
Once safely inside the shuttle—or as safe as they’d ever be, considering the circumstances—they all turned to view what was happening in the last hatch through the hatch door’s windows. Larissa was closest to the airlock controls, so she pressed the button to open the vents of the last airlock. That, in turn, made a red light flash on top of the last airlock door. The flashing red light meant there was no more atmosphere where Anvelin 26 was; it must have emptied seconds after Larissa pressed the button.
“Applying pressure to the door now,” Kya said through everyone’s coms.
Anvelin 26 began to move backwards ever so slightly; surely, it was due to the force it was applying to the door. Then there it was, a crack in the aliens’ doors, but there was no explosive atmosphere exchange, at least not that Eora was able to see. Soon the door to the alien ship was fully open, and all Eora was able to see from her position was a long dark corridor. She instantly knew that wasn’t right. There was no airlock; could it be that the Ochilenes did not consume oxygen? Or were they missing something? Too early to tell, but they would soon find out.
“I’m not detecting any atmosphere coming from the Ochilenes ship,” Kya said. “It suggests this was a vacuumed door. I am not meeting any further resistance from the door. I believe the door will remain open.”
“Can these suits handle a sudden change in atmosphere?” Larissa asked to no one in particular.
“Perhaps not an explosion type of change,” Eora said. “Hardly anything would be able to handle that. But I think if things get wonky in there, we’ll be just fine.” She checked her heads-up display for the remaining oxygen time. “At least for the next four hours.”
“Then let’s do what we came here to do,” Larissa said, pressing the button to close the vents of the airlock.
As the group made their way to the last airlock, Anvelin 26 began to let go of the door and handles. The alien spaceship door remained open, and there was no movement coming from within the ship.
Eora was the first one to step into the dark corridor. As she did so, she reached into her backpack with her left hand and pulled out a shield shell. She pressed a button at the center of the shell. It began to float and emit a faint but visible field in front of them. She then tapped her shoulder to turn on the built-in lights of the suit and the magnetic boots. The rest of the group followed, with Anvelin 26 floating right behind them.
“I was thinking that the boots wouldn’t stick,” August said as they walked down the dark corridor.
“Iron is common in the universe,” Larissa said. “It’s not the most common, but it’s common enough. Though is it me, or are our boots not sticking all that well?”
“Yeah, same here,” August said. “I feel like they are barely keeping me down.”
“About two hundred meters to reach the end of the corridor,” Eora said as she led the group.
“You know, for a ship’s entrance,” August said, “this one is pretty jacked up. There are scratches everywhere, no proper walkway, not to mention no lights. It’s almost like this is not an entrance at all.”
“It looks like a waste disposal tunnel to me,” John blurted out.
The group looked at each other and then began walking a lot faster.
Dammit, dammit, we are in a heck load of trouble, Eora thought. We don’t know if this is being used or not, or if it cycles automatically. We don’t know that much about it. We have to get out of here now.
“Pycca, are you seeing this?” Larissa asked as they walked hurriedly.
“I swear,” Pycca said, “that was the only thing on the entire ship that looked like a hatch or entry point. Anvelin 26 is analyzing the ship structure as you go. I’m getting a better idea of it now.”
“Keep us updated,” Larissa said.
They reached the end of the corridor, where they found another door like the one Anvelin 26 had pried opened.
“Same deal?” August asked.
“Yeah,” Eora said. “Except this time, if that happens to be pressurized, we are royally screwed.”
“Everyone,” Larissa said. “Hold on to Anvelin 26 and put a grip lock on your suit.”
As Anvelin 26 got into position to open the door, it extended a rail with handles from its back. At once, the group took hold of the handles. As soon as everyone was holding on to the handles, the machine began to pry open the door. The force Anvelin 26 was exerting on the door was tangible through the rumbling of its body. But within seconds, the door was open, and to everyone’s visible relief, the door was not pressurized.
The group stood in silence as they gazed at what was beyond the door. Yet another door was visible, but this time it was different. The room was lit in a bright gray color, clean and with few scuffs. It looked well-maintained, almost new. The opposite of the corridor they were in. Rectangles moved up and down at the seams. There was also a large tray in the middle of the room.
“I get the feeling that we are getting closer,” August said.
“You don’t say…” Eora said.
“Focus,” Larissa said.
Eora was the first to let go of Anvelin 26 and went ahead of the group with the shield already deployed. The group followed her into the lit room. As Anvelin 26 entered the room, the door closed behind it.
“Is that a good thing?” August asked, turning around towards the closed door.
Then the clean door in front of them opened. Everyone stood still, turning their heads slowly towards the door. But there was no one there; the door had opened automatically. It revealed a large but empty room in front of them. The room was lit, and there were strobing lights everywhere.
“Well…” Larissa said. “We’ll just have to take that as an invitation to come on in. There’s no sense in staying here anyway. Kya, can we confirm that there’s no activity on board?”
“I can confirm that there is no activity on the ship as far as Anvelin 26 has scanned,” Kya said through the coms. “However, there are signs of life towards the rear center of the ship. As Anvelin 26 gets nearer, I will be able to confirm if there’s any ongoing activity.”
“Grab your shields,” Larissa said as she took a step forward. “Keep your eyes open for anything that moves.”
“Hey, you guys…” Pycca said through the coms as the group made their way to the next room.
“What is it, Pycca?” Larissa asked.
“I can’t tell exactly what it is,” Pycca said. “But something is off in the next room. It’s too minute to detect with the scans from Anvelin 26.”
“We’ll keep our eyes open,” Larissa said as she faced the last door.
The door once again opened on its own as the group neared the door, but this time, as the group walked into the large open space within the ship, their movements slowed.
Eora felt as if her entire body was heavier. A lot heavier. She began to feel lightheaded, and her breathing became labor
ed. The gravity had gone from zero-g to a hefty 2.75-g. Her heads-up display began flashing warnings.
Gravity 2.75
Gravity Change
Excess g-forces
Enable Space Suit Compensation
“Why is this not automatic?” Eora managed as she tapped on her shoulder to enable the compensation on the space suit.
Eora felt relief and restored awareness as the suit inflated internally to prevent blood from pooling in her feet and legs. The rest of the group also tapped on their shoulders to enable their gravity compensators.
“Pycca, how can this be a small thing?” Eora asked with obvious frustration. “How?”
“I told you that I couldn’t tell exactly what it was,” Pycca said through the coms.
“Is the rest of the ship the same way?” Larissa asked.
“As far as we’ve been able to scan,” Pycca said, “yes. It’s a constant.”
Knowing that they would not be able to complete the mission at 2.75 times Earth’s gravity with all the extra weight they carried, she took the backpack off. The rest of the group followed suit.
“At this rate, we have a lot less breathing time,” Eora said. “Check your heads-up display.”
Eora’s heads-up display marked two hours and ten minutes of breathing time. She knew things would only get worse as exhaustion set in. The body would need to consume a lot more oxygen to keep up with the augmented gravity.
“I knew that in scenarios like this it would decrease,” Lorenzo said. “But almost two hours? Seems a bit much. Can we check if this thing is working correctly?”
“We have to try and control our breathing,” Eora said as she walked towards Anvelin 26, dragging her backpack.
“Um, Eora, what are you doing?” August said.
“We’ll never get anything done, or get anywhere,” Eora said as she unlatched the rear weapon pack from Anvelin 26, “if we try to carry these.”
“And what will you do with the spider’s cannons?” August asked. “What good is the machine if it can’t carry its cannons?”
“What good are we if we can’t move?” Eora said as she struggled to move the cannons from Anvelin 26. “We have no choice but to leave them behind.”
“We are going to wander around an alien ship without any weapons?” August asked.
“I’d much rather have a working shield than a weapon,” Eora said. “Either we do this, or we won’t be able to do anything at all. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of a weapon shielding you from fire. Anvelin, a little help, please.”
With one of its hind legs, Anvelin 26 reached for its rear weapons pack and slid it off its body, removing it completely. The rear weapons pack made a solid-sounding clank when it hit the floor.
“Are you sure about this?” Larissa asked.
“I’m sure,” Eora said as she struggled to put the backpack up on Anvelin 26’s rear deck.
“You heard her, let’s do it,” Larissa said as she began to drag her backpack towards Anvelin 26.
Soon all six backpacks were on top of the machine. The group was breathing heavily after just a few movements.
“This is starting to look like an impossible task,” Lorenzo said. “Who would have thought that just 1.75 extra g’s would be so exhausting.”
“That’s because we aren’t just carrying extra weight with our suits and gear,” Sarah said. “Everything is heavier: our organs, our blood. It’s more difficult to breathe. Our bodies aren’t used to it at all. And these suits aren’t exactly lightweight.”
Sarah was close to giving Lorenzo a good answer, but Eora knew that if it wasn’t for their space suits and the g-force compensators, they would likely already be experiencing extreme fatigue and lightheadedness. Reduced blood flow coupled with the increased weight would likely prevent their muscles from operating aerobically. Rather than burning oxygen, the muscles would have to generate energy through glycolysis as they did during a thorough workout. Things would have felt normal for a few minutes after the person started pushing their body, but eventually it would reach a state of extreme fatigue as time passed. And it would take a few more minutes to black out.
“Pycca, where to now?” Larissa asked. “I don’t think we have much time left.”
“I’m uploading a map to your heads-up display now,” Pycca said.
“I will warn you that the map we have is incomplete,” Kya said. “We are putting it together as Anvelin 26 scans the area.”
They followed the map displayed in their helmets to the back of the ship and three floors below. Nothing stood out to Eora as particularly special; everything looked sort of the same, wall after wall, hallway after hallway. Along the way, Eora made the decision to have everyone change their shield packs, as the ones they were operating were nearing their end. As they did so, the group groaned and protested. They were tired.
“Everything is so freaking heavy,” Lorenzo said.
“I get the feeling that we aren’t going to get to use this,” August said as he played with his shield’s buoyancy. Because of the augmented gravity, the shield was having problems tracking them and staying ahead of the user. “There is literally nothing here.”
“Don’t play with that; it’s not a toy,” Eora said scornfully. “Remember that what we are dealing with is alien, meaning we don’t know anything about it. What if the only reason something hasn’t fired on us is because of this very shield. What if their weapons are smart enough to detect that they cannot penetrate this kind of shield and they are holding fire to conserve energy?”
“Touché,” August said, and he stopped playing with the drone at once.
“Do you even know what that means?” Eora asked.
“Yes,” August said, narrowing his eyes.
“Be quiet,” Larissa said.
The big change came when they neared the end of the map.
They had entered a viewing deck of sorts. The walls were transparent, and from there they could see most of the Ochilenes ship above them. Even Sodenia was visible some distance away, not to mention the first-class view of Earth right below them. And it was then that they saw something they hadn’t seen before. The ship had a hollow core. In fact, the majority of the ship was hollow.
“What kind of ship is this?” August asked as they entered the room.
“We’ll figure that out later,” Larissa said as she walked past August towards the console in the room. “We have bigger problems at the moment.”
It was easy to see what she meant. Just around the console were three scattered capsules, each with a silhouette inside of it. It looked as if they had fallen from the mechanism holding them in place. All three capsules had a red flickering light.
“That’s them,” Eora said as she carefully approached. “It has to be them.”
As Eora got closer to examine one of the capsules, she wasn’t sure what to think. She was already expecting to see an alien. But in her entire life, she had only seen two types of alien. One was the kind depicted in movies, always humanoid, with gray skin. The second, the real deal, was the Acram. But what was in front of her didn’t fit either description.
From what she could see through the capsule’s glass, the being inside was shorter than an average human, much shorter. Its head was large and squared, with large nostrils flaring above its small, closed eyes. The trunk and limbs were stubby. The hands, if she could presume those were hands, were much larger. And it had hair, lots of hair. It reminded her of one of Earth’s gorillas, but with a special twist.
“These life forms are dying,” Kya said through the coms. “There is no time; we must bring them to Sodenia for our medical team to examine.”
“How long do we have?” Larissa asked.
“It’s hard to say,” Kya said. “But I calculate that we have less than twenty-two minutes before life support in the capsules completely fails.”
“We can’t make it back to the space shuttle in that time,” Eora said as she looked at her oxygen meter; it sho
wed an hour and thirty minutes left at their current rate of consumption. “It took us over thirty minutes just to get here. Even if we start running back…”
“We’ll suffocate before we get there.” Larissa finished Eora’s sentence. “Can Anvelin 26 carry the capsules back to the space shuttle?”
“Larissa, we can’t stay here,” Eora said.
Larissa held up a hand, but she agreed with Eora. She was probably waiting for Kya’s response.
“It’s likely,” Kya said through the coms. “However, it’s hard to say at this point.”
“What about us along with them,” Larissa said. “After all, Anvelin 26 is supposed to be our fast escape.”
“We’ll make a few adjustments,” Kya said through the coms.
Anvelin 26 began shedding its white armor all around its body, only leaving the armor on its back intact, where the capsules would sit.
“Let’s do it,” Eora said. “The faster we get out of here, the better.”
The team scrambled to get the capsules on top of Anvelin 26, and within four minutes, with the help of the machine’s strong limbs, the three capsules were secured.
“There’s a problem,” Kya said through the coms as Anvelin 26 extended its rear handle rail for the group. “I cannot guarantee a safe return to the spacecraft in the amount of time previously planned due to the added weight. We’ll need to move slower to ensure Anvelin 26 doesn’t accidentally hit an object, thus damaging itself.”
“If we move slower,” Larissa said, “we won’t make it in time.”
“But if we move faster,” Lorenzo said, sounding nervous, “we might not make it at all.”
“August, remember those useless shields?” Eora asked.
“Yes…” August replied, sounding unsure.
“I have an idea,” Eora said as she walked towards the pile of backpacks. The group followed.
They deployed the rest of the unused shields around Anvelin 26 and themselves so they could move in unison with the machine as it moved through the Ochilenes ship. The machine adopted a fast-paced walk, with the three capsules on its back and all six members of the group holding on to the rear rail.
“Make sure your hands are on lock mode,” Eora said as she locked her hand to the handle.